Media?

Image via WikipediaThis short video is very much worth taking a look at.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/27/10202/298/575/643204

"So you might have heard about Barbara West, that TV anchor from Orlando, Florida who asked Joe Biden some pretty crazy questions (such as whether Barack Obama was preaching Marxism and whether he wanted to turn the U.S. into a socialist nation), but you probably didn't see the questions she asked John McCain, and you probably didn't see the real doozy of a question that she asked Biden when they last interviewed, in September."

I've been thinking a lot lately about the continued evolution of American media. People have always believed nutty thing that are absolutely, well, insane, just on the face of them, things so obviously outrageous that no thinking person could do anything but dismiss them and move on. Political campaigns have always included these ideas. It seems that when people get really passionate about a candidate, or other issue, their critical thinking abilities, weak anyway, get completely shut down.

What I think is relatively new however is that mass media so completely buys into this craziness, as the video linked to above so clearly shows. This is not even pretend journalism. So why is it on TV as "news"? These interviews play like satire! And why do political figures treat these television shows as though they where news outlets? Or is this indeed what it means today to be a "news outlet"?

I don't know. But I believe America is in trouble if this is how decisions will be made.