I voted A to tip the scales, but it was probably more like a B-. I'm pleased, though, that most of CNN's spin has been about the messaging and not the heckling.
#analysis
Yeah, and the spin moves the dial just as much as the speeches do. Like it or not, the networks are part of the political conversation and frame the debate. If you want to follow politics honestly I feel like you have to "consume" "news" in this way.
I disagree, and I am going to indulge in a short bit of ranting about it: Not only is the network coverage toxic, cynical, uninformed, and generally bad for your mental health and intellectual well-being as a viewer, it is also far too wrapped up in itself to realize just how unimportant it is and just how few voters are following their take on events "as they unfold."
The immediate reactions that you get on the networks add virtually nothing of value to your understanding of the process. At best, if you are an informed and critical viewer, you might get through their coverage without losing perspective. You might, but, speaking from experience, you probably will not.
To the extent that this garbage really does "drive debate," it is because politicians, media figures, and their assorted retainers are its most avid consumers, snake-eating -its-own-tail-style. In that respect, it really does show us something that is relevant. But that does not tell us much about how we will understand these events even as early as, say, one week from today.
Of course as someone who follows these things closely, I cannot help watching this stuff occasionally. But the only time when it's really worthwhile to leave it on for more than ten minutes or so is election night.
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