Reporters, do your jobs. Please, we need you desperately. This play-by- play "analysis" of politics has got to stop. Endless hours of speculation about which candidate called the other "nice" and what it means. Children on the playground have more profound dialogue.
I hung a map of the world up the other day and ran out of thumbtacks before I could pin-point all the countries that now hate us or think we are involved in sabotaging them.
A world spinning in chaos and reporters get sucked into conversations and elaborate speculation about the political implications of the "N" word---"NICE?" This country is in so much trouble, one government teacher wrote me the other day and said she had no idea what to teach her students. She asked, "Do I tell them their president committed treasonous acts?"
Reporters have a duty to push the dialogue forward with analysis. This tit-for-tat reporting does not do anything but make the bad guys happy and frustrate the voters. It's all inside the beltway stuff. Ordinary citizens don't give a rats behind about who called who nice or not and the potential political impact it may have on which candidate.
Ordinary citizens do care that corporations they work for are downsizing, they cannot afford health care, their children are getting a poor education, and our government agencies are protecting corporations instead of its citizens. Ordinary people worry about their pension plans and social security. With two wars on two fronts our little blue planet may not be around much longer to fight over.
Please, reporters, help Americans focus on the issues. They are complicated and not conducive to a 30-second soundbite. Unfortunately that means citizens have to find a conduit for news that is not corporate sponsored. There are a few good ones left...but most media corporations no longer do their jobs. Find good non-profit publications for now. Support the reporters who ask the questions you would, and support that publication financially.
There is much to do. Get out of the play-by-play box reporters, get in the game and direct the conversations into productive dialogue. This country needs you.
