> Broadcast news divisions have justified their severe reduction in coverage > of political conventions in recent years with the observation that they are > no longer news events, but infomercials for the parties. I have never been > convinced by this - I don't see anything wrong with all three (or four) > networks turning over at least 3 hours of primetime for 4 days every 4 > years to the parties so they can present themselves however they want to > the American people.
Have you heard anything from the podium besides "Our party/candidate is great, has done great things in the past, and will do great things if elected, while the other party/candidate is awful, has done awful things in the past, and will do awful things if elected"? It'll be the same next week, too. Decades ago, when train travel was the norm and long distance phone calls were a big deal, conventions really were where politicians would get together to cut deals and decide on a presidential (and vice presidential) candidate. TV came along and started showing what it could live, and there was real news there. Eventually, the parties recognized that if they did a better job of managing their conventions, what had been a chaotic and interesting meeting could become four nights of free advertising. And as the emergence of presidential primaries made the convention's nomination process anticlimactic, the networks started to realize that they were just showing infomercials, and could cut back the coverage knowing that gavel-to-gavel coverage was available elsewhere. > Last night, for example, there was some actual news at the Republican > Convention. Ron Paul delegates "shouted and booed when rules were adopted > as part of the Republican Party's official platform that would hinder the > kind of grassroots campaign that carried Paul to the national convention."... That's news with a small n. A handful of disgruntled delegates isn't a major story. Speculating about whether or not they might break away is just speculation, and an actual split is unlikely to happen at the convention. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
