Nick - Media Accountability and the Silver Tsunami

Right now I have a Politico tab open in my browser and I have a feeling I'm going to be referring back to that a lot over the course of this blog. You can go check it out if you want but it's a pretty dismal list of headlines.

First of all, let me say that Politico is my least favorite website that I visit every day. It gives me a perspective on what's going on in politics by skimming a few stories and looking over their list of headlines. It is also totally, pathetically inane most of the time, and in that way it resembles any other politics news you would find on TV.

Right now there are two stories on Politico's homepage. There are actually upwards of twenty, but they're really only two stories. Story number one: "Uh oh! Democrats Are In Trouble!"

Let me start by saying that I have no problem with analysis of polls and things; this could be a legitimate story. But when you start to mouse through, you get the sense that this isn't politics reporting; there's no policy there. Quick detour:

Politics. Policy. Politics. Policy.

Do those words look similar to you? There's probably a good reason for that. Politics is just a process of reviewing and implementing policies. That article I linked to up there, and the hundreds of similar ones being published and reported for hundreds of different news sites? Those aren't politics articles. They're sports commentaries.

Go team! Looks like the Democrats are having a bad season this year! Looks like there might be a surprise upset! The Republicans score a goal in Nevada! Can they keep going strong during the playoffs this November?

This is what we're looking at here. Reporters aren't reporting anymore; policy doesn't sell. And speaking of selling, let me use that as a segway into our next topic: money.

If you haven't been following politics avidly, you probably aren't aware that the supreme court ruled awhile ago that companies can pay politicians however much money they want. In fact, they don't even have to have the permission of the owners of the company; if the CEO wants to give away money to politicians in exchange for favors, well, guess what, he can. And it can be totally anonymous.

That's the other kind of article on Politico right now: "Republicans Have Lots Of Money!"

And the worst part is that the story I linked to doesn't even mention the cause of this phenomenon; corporations now have the same rights as individuals to finance politicians.

It doesn't take much insight to see that this is horrible for everyone. Corporations can totally buy out politicians, and it's perfectly legal. This has an effect like a dam bursting; corporations have enough funds to flush out any politicians they don't like and make any individual contributions irrelevant. I'm not sure what's worse; that supreme court ruling, or the fact that the media isn't reporting it.

So look forward to a November of being outfunded and outvoted by corporations who now have no limit to their political power. Not a very upbeat note to end on, but I couldn't find an upbeat note in this story at all.

-Nick.