We Deserve Better Election Coverage

The first thing we have to do is get rid of the Electoral College and run the Presidential election like every other election in the United States: the candidate with the most votes wins. Period.

Second, we have to stop putting people like Steve Kornacki (above) on the air. Nothing personal, Steve, but that rolled-up sleeves, electronic billboard, breathless excitement about who’s polling better may be visually appealing to the 20-something television news producers who create this stuff. But it’s a huge disservice to Americans. It’s not a horse race; it’s not a sporting contest; it’s not a Las Vegas-style gambling odds display. It’s an election for our highest political office.

Third, we have to actually balance our coverage of the candidates. As someone much wiser than me said, “If Candidate X says it’s raining, and Candidate Y says it’s sunny, your job as a journalist is not to report ‘both sides.’ Your job is to look out the window and find out.”

An example of this false balance/false equivalence reporting we’re plagued with now is the old joke about a theoretical New York Times headline for a story regarding the Flat Earth Society: “Opinions Vary On The Shape Of The Earth.”

And by balance, I don’t mean every political story about Candidate X has to run the same amount of time for Candidate Y. And not everything any candidate says, or Tweets, or posts is worthy of coverage. Let the adults in the newsroom – not the consultants or the ad salespeople – use their judgment about what’s news and what isn’t.

I’m not suggesting we turn the clock back to 1980, but Walter Cronkite really was pretty good at balancing stories and reporting election results.

Nowadays, it seems news organizations use polls the way drunks use lampposts: more for support than illumination. Polls don’t mean anything any more. Sampling errors are baked into the America of the 21^st century.

Do we really need stories like this? Do our candidates have to be “exciting?”

Oh, and one more thing.

Could we please refrain from using cutesy terms like “Veepstakes” when we’re covering elections which will determine who will literally be a heartbeat away from the highest office in our country?

Thanks.

I feel better now.

And you damn kids stay off my lawn!!!