Presidential Election News – Not!

There is no doubt that the 2012 United States presidential race between President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney will be hard fought.  Is this an election that requires close scrutiny and a careful combing through the facts? Absolutely. However, it doesn’t take a lot of time looking at the statics and state polls to figure out that the election is not as close at the American news media would have us believe.

I am currently working on a documentary series that explains the American election process for Al Hurra viewers in the Middle East.  I have had the opportunity to interview politicians, voters, pollsters and various other political pundits.  The vast majority of these people say that the numbers favor President Obama no matter how you slice them and have since this summer.

But let’s face it.  A story in which Obama looks to be leading continuously just isn’t that sexy.  Where’s the tension?  Where’s the drama?  Where does that leave the bottom line for the news outlets? The conventional wisdom in news seems to be that drama sells better than truth. Newspapers and news shows are ultimately about turning a profit.  With the inundation of outlets in print, broadcast 24 hours a day on cable channels and available all the time online, journalists and their bosses work extra hard to entice news consumers to spend time (and money) in their camp.

Visit statistic star Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight.com political forecast where he calculates that President Obama currently (as of November 2) has a 79% chance of winning. At no point since June has Romney led.  Serious gamblers are betting big bucks based on Silver’s number crunching. Why? In the 2008 elections, he correctly predicted how 49 out of 50 states would vote in the presidential races. He nailed all of the senate race calculations.  Princeton Election Consortium gives Obama a 90% change to win. I see no reason to disagree with Silver or the other statisticians out there.

The candidates also benefit from faux close polls because they can both claim a slight edge (read “join us, the winning team”).  A close race gives supporters on both sides hope but not so much hope as to keep them from voting on Election Day.

And the closeness of the race is not the only element of the presidential elections that is being sensationalized.  News outlets comb through every single thing the candidates or anyone remotely connected to them say and so.  While I agree that the electorate does need to know enough about the candidate to understand their character as well as their thoughts on policy, we do not need to hear countless news reports on who wore their American flag on their lapel or not.

The American public loses out when elections are sensationalized for the sake of news.  The horserace ends up taking center stage forcing candidates to rely on on-line jabs to cut through the clutter.  Three months of back-and-forth zingers do nothing to expand the political dialogue or educate voters on the actual stances of those running.  Because the candidates don’t have to articulate their policy stances, they are less likely to take a clear path when it comes time to lead.

During this last week before elections, I now read, watch and listen to the news with my hand ready to turn the page or change the station at the first mention of the elections.  Perhaps the very valuable undecided voters find the hype of the election informative somehow.  I don’t. But then again, I’m not undecided. As a producer, I’m sure glad I got out of the news business a long time ago.

 

For more opinions, visit the Opinion category.

My Dream Interviews

As a non-fiction television producer, I get to meet and interview people that I would not normally cross paths with.  Sometime the are average people and sometimes they are famous.  Here is a list of well-known people that I would absolutely love to interview. They are in no particular order.

President Barack Obama – Self explanatory really. However, my husband is also half-Kenyan and my father-n-law knew Barack Sr. so at least there is some connection.

James Lipton – Besides interviewing artists who at are the top of their creative craft, Mr. Lipton has impressed me with his ability to sample all that life has to offer and not judge others for doing the same.  His friendship with Dave Chapelle is intriguing. I’d love to interview him despite some of my respected colleagues calling him the biggest sycophant ever.

Questlove – A pure musical genius.  If you ever get to see him live as a drummer or deejay, go!  If you ever get to hear him talk about music, get ready to get schooled!  Anyone who has converted a room into a music library then tasks his sister with managing it, must be given credit for dedication to his passion.

Phillipa Gregory – I almost hate to admit this in writing, but I love literature, television and film about the Tudor period.  I find the social stratification and people’s willingness to adhere to social rules as if they are hard and concrete things absolutely fascinating.  No one brings the Tudor period to life like Gregory.

Malcolm Gladwell – One of the most interesting “thinkers” of our time. I love the way Gladwell is able to connect ideas in new ways to shed light on old problems.  One question I’d like to ask him is why, when describing people he has interviewed, he always talks about their hair?

Toni Morrision – A pure literary genius.  There is no question that her books are among the best ever written but her Nobel Prize speech was also a work of art.  

Mira Nair – I actually got to speak to her on the telephone once for an extremely brief pre-interview for a documentary called “Understanding: Race” that aired on The Learning Channel (now TLC). I never got to meet her and have always wished that I did.  She has produced and directed some of the most luscious looking movies of our time including one of my all time favorites “Karma Sutra.”

But then again, perhaps I really DON’T want to interview these people.  In the past, I have interviewed people that I admired and is isn’t always all that it is cracked up to be.  Sometimes, being up close and personal with them takes some of the shine off their glow.  I won’t name names here in case I disrupt the glow for you.  I guess, you never really know until the interview happens.  I think I’ll take my chances with this group.