Obama representatives did not immediately respond to an e-mail inquiry late Friday.
You know what that means.
It has to mean that there's something more there if they're unwilling to respond.
After the being so clearly implicated in the sale of his Senate seat, this has got to be the most pressing priority for Obama and his team right now. Why won't they respond to a simple inquiry? What are they hiding?
This snark, triggered by a real request of the Obama team, is intended as a vivid illustration of a very real trend:
The traditional media has proven itself utterly incompetent on so many levels
That, or they truly are partisan tools. And the two are not mutually exclusive. They can certainly be both, and there are legitimate and documented arguments for both.
1. They are like lobbyists advocating for a specific cause
But the cause for which they shill is creating limited, partisan perspective. We know that they succumbed to influence from the far right propaganda peddling. Dan Rather's experience is simply the tip of the iceberg. We also know that the media didn't do its job on Iraq. It didn't do its job on Katrina. Nor do it do anything effective on Plame, torture, or any of the other atrocities committed against our democracy.
They are hacks -- 99 percent of them. And the majority of those hacks work for the AP, IMHO.
2. Their livelihood is changing and they fear change
Then, mix in the fact that they are essentially fighting for their profession. Their way of life is evaporating at an astonishing pace. Consider that:
-US News and World Report, The Christian Science Monitor, and PC World are all essentially halting print editions and moving exclusively to digital.
-40 percent of connected consumers write a blog or actively participate in blogs; hence the NYT's and the WSJ's foray into blogs.
-Newspapers derive, on average, 80 percent of their income from advertising sales (down 8 percent, or $2B, in 2007) and no one has effectively figured out how to monetize it in competition with the likes of Craigslist and Ebay.
-The advertising spend of the largest US advertisers is increasingly shifting to online.
-The financial troubles of many major media outlets including The Tribune Company.
-Mobile device penetration in the US was nearly 30 percent as of June 2008 and 3G access has increased 80 percent in the past year (Comscore) and could reach 100 percent by 2013 (SNL Kagan), moving more media consumption online.
-More than 70 percent of Americans get their news significantly from online sources (Pew Internet & American Life Project) and 36 percent get their news regulrly via mobile devices (Razorfish).
-Nearly onethird of Americans over 12 years old own an MP3 player (like iPod)
-47 percent of people's total news time is spent online (Pew Internet & American Life Project).
Traditional media is declining as a source that people go to for their source of news. Instead, they are turning to online versions of those outlets, blogs, podcasts, and other forums.
The financial viability of traditional media outlets is degrading due to declining ad revenue and an inability to effectively deploy a consumer-centered strategy online.
The trends show that more people are connected, more people are relying on non-traditional sources for their news, and people are finding less objectivity in their news from all sources.
Journalists are the source of much of their own pain. Perhaps as much by dictate as by their own personal failures but I can guarantee this: When a journalist from the AP believes it's relevant to ask the Obama team for a comment on a copyright infringement lawsuit initiated by a cigarette rolling paper company, that hack has just demonstrated more clearly than any research I can cite why they are irrelevant to what I need to know about my world and what's important.
Take my f*king poll =O)