Washington Post Death Spiral Watch

Outsourced to Media Matters:

Media Matters - ABC News/ Wash. Post withheld results of poll favorable to Obama: Summary: ABC News and The Washington Post issued staggered releases of the results of their latest poll, withholding from their first release results favorable to Sen. Barack Obama, including the finding that 50 percent of registered voters would vote for Obama for president versus 42 percent for Sen. John McCain. The next day, the Post ran an article headlined "Poll Finds Voters Split on Candidates' Iraq-Pullout Positions," which did not mention Obama's 8-point lead over McCain. Later that day, ABC News and the Post issued a second release with additional poll results that stated: "Obama continues to hold most of the advantages in the presidential race."

Why oh why can't we have a better press corps?

Comments

[ostap]

The Post split the release of the poll into two parts: foreign policy the first day and the remainder the second day. Not parts favorable to McCain the first day and parts favorable to Obama the second. Big deal.

[Barkley Rosser]

Plus the press loves to have more of a closer horse race. Makes for more exciting news. We saw this during the primary, when the press continued to pretend that Hillary had a chance long after she no longer did.

[oldhat]

I'm trying to imagine the point when Brad switches from "Why oh why can't we have a better press corps" to "Impeach the press corps, impeach them now" style shrillness. I guess while we hover over the button concerning the President, there is no Fight Club-style reset for the press corps.

Face it, it will never happen. There is a bell curve for news coverage, and the money will always be in the middle. What could possibly change the imbalance? Regulation? Public welfare-based performance taxing? Do you seriously think changing the curriculum at a school of journalism would make a dent? What could cause the majority (!) of journalists to care about their reputation?

This has become the favorite part of my feed, but I just don't know how much longer you can take it. I'm going to get some more butter.