As you probably know, last night Senate Republicans once again blocked President Obama's jobs bill, this time killing his overwhelmingly popular proposal to provide federal aid to state and local governments to rehire laid-off teachers and first responders.
But even though in a two party system the media has an obligation to point out where each party stands on important issues (jobs and the economy being the number one issue to most Americans), much of the coverage of last night's vote would have left the public scratching their head about the the basic question of who did what.
For example, check out this totally useless Chyron from CNN earlier this morning:
That's technically correct, but a headline like that is no more useful than a headline that reads "WORLD SERIES GAME WON BY BASEBALL TEAM."
Here's how to do a Chyron headline that actually communicates something useful:
That's informative and accurate, unlike their jobs vote Chyron. So it's clear they can do it right if they put their mind to it. Unfortunately, when it comes to matters that involve politics, they usually seem to get it wrong. It's not just CNN, though. Here's
another, from
TIME:
Senate Rejects Latest Obama Jobs Bill
And L.A. Times:
Senate rejects bill to keep teachers, first responders on job
Same thing with CBS:
Senate rejects big piece of Obama jobs bill
These headlines are useless. Can you imagine headlines reading "TEAM UNHAPPY AFTER PLAYOFF DEFEAT" or "COURT MAKES DECISION IN CASE"? They might be accurate, but they are uninformative.
Here's another, from The Washington Times:
Obama’s jobs bill fails second Senate test
Okay, yes, I know The Washington Times is a right-wing hack publication, so you probably have low expectations. But does the rest of the media really want to have their coverage mimic a right-wing hack publication?
Finally, let's give TPM some credit where credit is due:
Senate Republicans Block Dem Jobs Bill For Teachers, Firefighters
That is absolutely right, both on the facts and in communicating the important details. I know a lot of reporters probably wish D.C. weren't so partisan. A lot of Americans do too. But when the reason for that partisanship is primarily the result of one of the political parties voting against the overwhelming desires of the public, opposing policy measures that they previous supported simply for the sake of sabotaging a presidency, then that's not just a story worth reporting—it's news the public needs to know.
7:37 AM PT: By the way, Greg Sargent has been beating the drum on another important aspect of this story: the fact that Republicans have been making transparently bogus claims about the number of jobs that their own plan would create, and the media has been reluctant to do a reality check on those claims. His Washington Post colleague Glenn Kessler has now done that, but there is still too much media silence on the topic. (Imagine if GOP jobs bill claims were covered with the same fervor as Biden gaffes?)