Politics and Journalism

I'd like to recommend two important essays on the role the media will play in the 2004 election. The first is from Eric Alterman and the second is from Paul Krugman. In the first, Eric describes a litany of recent journalistic histrionics from the Washington press corps, not the least being the report from Howard Kurtz that political reporters are shocked that Dean expresses no interest in their personal lives. In the second, Paul gives the same press corps a list of rules they should follow in the 2004 election that, if they were followed, would probably lead to the first "fair and balanced" coverage of a political campaign in my memory (cynic that I am I doubt any of those rules will be followed).

Check 'em out.