Much ado about nothing

A lot of liberal bloggers are outraged that a recent Time/CNN poll was underreported. The reason? It supposedly shows a vulnerable Bush, with an approval rating of a mortal 55 percent.

But those aforementioned bloggers need to chill. There is no media conspiracy to bury the results.

First of all, the numbers are great if they are true. But we won't know the accuracy of those numbers until confirmed by other polls. The media loves "trend" stories. The trend has been skyhigh poll numbers. If more polls clock in with numbers in the mid-50s, then it becomes a trend, and then we'll see wider media scrutiny.

Furthermore, I don't know if anyone has noticed, but we are in the middle of the holiday season. Nothing is being covered by the media. Reporters are on vacation, and those that aren't are slacking. Newsrooms have skeleton staffs.

Finally, this is a case of "if a tree falls in a forest and there's no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?" Neither Time nor CNN have posted the poll on their sites. Apparently you need to have the print magazine to read about it. Time's PR people, who would normally hype this type of story to garner wider mention are probably on vacation or busy selling the Persons of the Year story.

I'll be happy to talk about the "so-called liberal media" now controlled by corporate and conservative interests. But the Time poll isn't an example.

Posted December 26, 2002 08:47 PM | Comments (32)