Although I must say that I do love getting the insider information about Barack Obama's personal life and his family, I think that the overwhelming amount of attention that Marian Robinson, Michelle Obama's mother, is a little too much.
I am not saying that I don't enjoy little segments about Mrs. Robinson's role in the Obama campaign (see the clip below), but I do think that the public debate over whether or not she should live in the White House or how much she dislikes some of the Obama's house rules are a little over the top.
At this point in our history, I think that the media should focus on the real issues at hand, like the 2 wars we are fighting and the terrible economic situation that plagues our nation.
In addition, it will not be the first time that a President's mother in law will live in, or spend an extended amount of time in, the White House (See Harry Truman, who is also ranked among our top Presidents-not saying that the two are necessarily linked, but it is nevertheless still a good point). Furthermore, I think that whatever will help the President to do his job better and put more focus on us, the American people, instead of on his family and personal life is definitely welcome and a good thing.
[P.S. My vote for second least newsworthy story goes to the Obama girls bedroom choices in the White House and their offer to be on the Hannah Montana show)
9 comments:
Okay, you say, on the one hand, that you find yourself drawn to these stories, but on the other hand, MSM should refrain from covering them (or from covering them so much). So, they should ignore what you, the consumer, wants?
I think that, contrary to much of what we've been reading, the networks themselves control not only what people watch, but what they WANT. Imagine a world without Grey's Anatomy, we would all survive and we'd find another show to take its place. These media outlets can control the news and make it substantive.
I am drawn to what's on right now, not necessarily because of its content.
I think this is the media's effort to humanize Obama. He isn't just some political machine, but a real person with real family issues. I think America sees Pres. Bush this way, and the media (perhaps under pressure from the Obama campaign) wants to present Obama differently.
I would buy that fact that media outlets want to build a good relationship with Mr. Obama and his press staff and therefore they maybe be doing what the Obama campaign wants them to.
However, I don't beleive (and this is my own opinion) that the press is trying to "humanize" Obama. We all know that President-elect Obama is a human being and that he is an excellent politician and ran a first rate campaign.
I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with a story like this. The problem is when storys like this are presented instead of real news that affects the American people. When the news is on 24/7 there is some room for fluff like this. The real question is where are the substantive news storys about Iraq, health care, poverty and the stuff that affects us as Americans.
I dissent on the Hannah Montana comment. Any Miley Cyrus news is very important. Serious business.
Here's a serious question tho; How do we distinguish between political news and entertainment news that deals with politics? It's a serious question. The Hannah Montana dispatch didn't run on the front page, or in the politics section. It generally ran with the rest of the television news, or in a magazine section (at least in the newspapers I've seen). Can you really complain about a Television Editor wanting to run a story about the Obama girls and Hannah Montana? It's a big scoop for that section.
I did not mean to suggest that he was not a human, but rather not the terrorist affiliated bad guy, but rather the family man.
Mordy, for what purpose would we distinguish between entertainment news and political news? Because in many ways these are one and the same. If the purpose is, as your example suggests, what section it should be run in. Then the answer can be governed by pragmatism (word count, who found the story, etc.), politics (my news section needs more hits than your section, etc.), or philosophy.
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