Comment: HuffPo Gets It Right, Too

Reinforcing the idea that more voices do give us a better chance at avoiding mass media group think, I came across this post by Steven Brant, Charles Gibson on new ABC/Washington Post poll: "I know we're getting way ahead of ourselves here, but..." , on the HuffPo home page shortly after filing my last post. Since I had taken the time to call someone out on doing it all wrong, I wanted to be sure to take the time to register my appreciation for someone who was doing it right.

I'll offer my comment here, but I hope you do stop by to read his piece. It proposes a couple of sensible alternatives to the horse-race model of press coverage of presidential races in this country. Let's hope that our democracy can get there.

Thank you for contributing this piece to stop the drum-beat before it's too late. The unreasoned march to an unfounded conclusion, in this case the "inevitability of Hillary subtext," is blatantly under way again, and it's incumbent upon all of us to keep repeating that this is not an acceptable mode of discourse for our public life.

I was disappointed to come across a piece (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-moorad/obama-trailing-off_b_66976.html) on the Huffington Post's OffTheBus Project site today that epitomizes the worst of the reporting that's been appearing recently. I hesitate to draw readers to the post, but it's worth linking to it in order to offer others the opportunity to object to the way the piece is constructed.

The importance of this issue extends well beyond the 2008 presidential race. If mea culpas are still fresh in our ears for lax reporting during the prelude to the Iraq War, we should not take that to mean that we are safe from a similar march toward Iran.

We must demand better journalism in every area of civic consequence. Thanks again for putting together such a thoughtful plea.