Can There Be Good Convention Journalism?
I’m of the opinion that conventions are entirely theater and should be enjoyed as such. Watch it on TV!
I don’t understand why so many reporters have to be there. The only “news” coming out of the convention is the infighting among Clinton and Obama staffmembers. But what if the only media people in Denver were TV producers, would this be a story? Does anyone really care about not-for-attribution quips besides political journalists?
Dana Goldstein would probably say that for those who are interested in intra-Democratic Party debates about policy and messaging, there actually is news. She wrote an article about the pre-convention education panel which featured non-stop teachers union bashing. That the main pre-convention education panel was full of criticism of unions seems signifigant, but it isn’t exactly news* that Cory Booker, Adrian Fenty and Michelle Rhee aren’t in lock-step with teachers unions.
We mostly get a bunch of little interviews with convention-goers, live-blogs of speeches and panels and very little actually reported. There’s no new information, and nothing important actually happens. Occasionally, there’s a speech that launches a politician onto the national scene. But those speeches are on TV anyway.
So what to do?
Obviously, reporters and bloggers are going to be at the convention. My idea is that they should abandon all pretense of substance and simply report on all the gossipy goings on. Which Democratic party bigwigs are going to this strip club, for instance? Can members of the drafting committee hold their liquor? Who’s taking the free condoms that Trojan is handing out? Which delegation has the best parties?
Substance free and gossipy? Sure. But it’s probably the most interesting stuff coming out of Denver.
*It probably sounds like I’m disparaging Goldstein’s work. I’m not – everyone should read the piece. It’s informative on the positions that all these education reformers have, which reforms have worked out and how teachers unions fit into the overall structure of the party. But notice how all the good stuff doesn’t have anything to do with the Convention per se. Dana hardly needs to go to Denver to produce good education-policy writing.
