Let's take the "mea culpa" from the Beacon News. First they start of with this spurious claim: "We here in the media -- in spite of all our crusading, editorializing and watchdog reporting -- blew it big time by letting a pretty important race fall through the cracks on Tuesday."
Watchdog reporting? I haven't seen the consolidated big-box press do much watchdog reporting since at least 9/10/01. We know they weren't on the job leading up to the Iraq War or for the first 7 1/2 years of the Bush administration. They also could have investigated and told us more about Blagojevich much sooner than they did instead of waiting for his arrest. Most of the investigative journalism I see is from blogs, non-profit news outlets, and the alternative press.
I did see plenty of coverage about who was leading in the polls for Governor and US Senate. Attention editors: Doing three days of stories on a poll you commissioned isn't real news. It's lazy crap.
The Beacon gets better.
Scott Lee Cohen, a pawnbroker with a GED who was arrested for allegedly beating up his prostitute girlfriend a few years ago, is now sitting in the No. 2 spot on the Democratic ticket.
And his opponent on the Republican side? A kid from downstate who is named Jason because, of course, he's under the age of 30.
Ummm...so being under 30 is a dis-qualifier comparable to having a history of arrests and very questionable business dealings? WTF?! I passed 30 but I'm still close enough to say, "GO F- YOURSELF!" I bet their publishers can't figure out why most young people get their news online instead of reading mutilated trees.
Plummer and Cohen spent huge sums to buy their victories, and the corporate media was more than happy to take their money. It's the result of a deteriorating press and a political system dominated by the need for expensive advertising. That's an excellent topic to write about without getting condescending over somebody's age.
But at least that attempt at an apology is better than the finger-pointing from Springfield's State Journal-Register. They took no responsibility for barely covering any of the candidates other than Art Turner. Their editorial blames the political system with a call to action: "Fix process for choosing lieutenant governor."
I have an idea for fixing the process. Why doesn't Gatehouse hire more than two political reporters at the SJR? Maybe they would have gotten around to covering the Lt. Governor's race and some serious issues in the 18th Congressional district Democratic primary that were swept under the rug. I like breaking a story on my blog but I'd rather see newspapers do their job.
This is a media scandal as much as a political upset because it isn't about just the Lt. Governor's race. It's a wake-up call that the political press is failing us due to budget cut after budget cut in the consolidated corporate media. Making a profit is more important than informing the public.
We officially reached the point when reading blogs and the alternative press is the only way for the average person to make an informed decision on election day.
I may write about Mark Brown's lame excuses later.