I don't know a lot about a reporter for the Associated Press named Charles Babington who also spent a lot of time at the Washington Post -- it seems like he's written things over the years that have annoyed the left and and annoyed the right, which means either he's a "balanced" journalist or maybe a lot of his articles are just bad. I'm suspecting the latter after reading his analysis of Obama's speech tonight, a speech he conceivably may not have even watched as he filed his analysis just about 26 minutes after it ended.
One interesting thing about Babington is he doesn't seem to care about an informed electorate. This is what he said earlier this year on PBS with Gwen Ifill:
Sometimes we like to think, oh, they get a spreadsheet out of all the issues. Most voters don't get that. Most voters probably don't even know why they vote for someone and there's nothing wrong with that.
Tonight, he did his part to keep the electorate uninformed. Check out Babington's punditty and tell me if this sounds like the speech that you saw tonight:
DENVER (AP) -- Barack Obama, whose campaign theme is "change we can believe in," promised Thursday to "spell out exactly what that change would mean."
But instead of dwelling on specifics, he laced the crowning speech of his long campaign with the type of rhetorical flourishes that Republicans mock and the attacks on John McCain that Democrats cheer.
He later added:
Obama's aides have long complained that he gets too little credit for including detailed proposals in his stump speeches, because listeners seem to remember only his stage presence and lofty rhetoric. Obama, who earlier had promised a "workmanlike" speech in Denver, seemed to acknowledge the problem, saying he would fill in the blanks.
Mostly, however, he touched on major issues quickly and lightly. It's an approach that may intrigue and satisfy millions of viewers just starting to tune in to the campaign seriously. The crowd at Invesco Field cheered deliriously, but Republicans almost surely will decry the lack of specifics.
Like I said above, that doesn't sound like anything that happened at Invesco Field. In well under an hour, Obama's mission was to spell out in clear terms for millions of Americans, some paying attention for the first time all year, how he differs from John McCain while giving -- in that short timeframe and that stadium setting -- a broad overview of where he stands on taxes, foreign policy, energy, education, etc. Greater detail on things like his tax plan already exists (here, for example), and they'll be other venues that are better suited to the nitty gritty, especially the coming debates. If you didn't know where Obama stands on the key issues after watching that speech, then you must have been also watching the Phillies' bullpen implode on a split screen.
Babington's story comes as the AP's Washington bureau is trying to be more opinionated and "edgy" under its new leader Ron Fournier, who once told Karl Rove (yes, that Karl Rove) to "keep up the fight." This is a tricky issue for me because I've argued recently that newsrooms across America should give journalists more leeway to be opinionated and edgy -- but I'm talking about saving struggling hometown newsrooms, and creating local personalities and discussions. Those local journalists need to riff on news accounts from more of a just-the-facts initial source, which is supposed to be the Associated Press. Instead, these AP efforts to be edgy and "contrarian" -- and maybe to please their new boss Fournier with his seemingly conservative viewpoint -- don't come off as "contrarian" as much as contrary to reality. It's a shame because more and more newsrooms, thanks to staff cuts, are relying more and more on the AP just as the AP is becoming more unreliable
UPDATE: More from Greg Mitchell.
Will: Did you see Keith Olbermann tonight call out Babington? Speaking of KO, he thinks the AP is dying a slow(albeit quickening) death.— Calvin Jones & the 13th Apostle- Thank you! I hope your bosses are reading this. The AP has been a ghost of its former self and has produced a lot of biased, hack reporting lately (as many of the better bloggers have noted). I wish I saw less of it in our Philadelphia newspapers (or at least I wish it was edited more heavily for its bias).— Tatts
- You know, I found this article through Google because I read Babington's story (linked off Drudge's site). I thought at first this was some conservative commentary, then it slowly dawned on me that Babington was intending to write a straight news story. I'm an independent, neither Republican nor Democrat (hey, I read Drudge), but I agree with your analysis of Babington's coverage. This was actually a pretty good speech, and as far as I could tell it offered some new policies. I had a hard time believing the AP was covering the same speech I was watching. So thanks for showing me I'm not going crazy. By the way, this story is the fourth result when you Google "Charles Babington."— peterwarne
- Sounds like Bunch ONCE AGAIN is part of TeamObama, fending off the non-believers.— shoeshineboy
- MOST IMPORTANT is the realization of HOW limited OUR NEWS SOURCES have actually become !! The MSM has dwindled to be in the hands of but 5 or so corporations and folks, they AIN't any too liberal if one bothers to check them out. Few noticed when the "wire services" got cut to just ONE, have none paid attention that even if they flicked their channels or pages that SAME story or phot or vid clips and but PERHAPS a different talking head or "reporter" name with sometimes NOT even a rewrite, just verbatim regurgitation ? It's been going on for some time and newsrooms be they print or on air have cut back THEIR staffs , have few INDEPENDENT reporters "reporting" so is quite DOUBTFUL that there would be DIVERSE input as their OUTPUT !! Troubling too when it gets noted that such as the NEW head of AP is a Karl Rove munchkin who has no qualms about FILTERING or LEANINGS and rather encourages such. ) As for the wrapup of the Dem convention and O's speech this eve..It was a great speech and appropriate for the occasion and for those SERIOUS about wanting nitty-gritty details, some effort at checking out straight from the source available on line or perhaps trying out C-Span for their coverage would assist them. Today, prior to direct convention coverage, such as the Gary Hart gathering with Obama's Foreign Policy teammates discussing issues and positons would enlighten more than the garble /blather found endlessly on MSM cabled convergence of talking heads who YET were more concerned to yap about the "stage" at Mile HIgh as if THAT was THE most important item to assess. Seems too many REALLY figure the general public are TRULY dumbed down and incapable of and lacking desire for "reports that actually give INFORMATION regarding issues that DO concern us and figure we want JUST the garbagey gossipings.— Bozzy54
Comment removed.
Hey Bunch, did Kos give you your marching orders to write this? Do you get paid by him too?— rudytbone- This guy is an idiot. I really doubt he watched the speech.— Bender
- Comment removed.
- The problem is Obama ran as something new and different, but all his ideas are quite old. When Obama gets into specifics he suddenly sounds like every other Democrat over the last 30 years. He is a much less powerful candidate when he gets specific.— bon
- So that's all you guys have? A couple of media people were cheering, and Obama's ideas are "quite old"? I guess Rush doesn't come on until noon..— Politburo
- Don't Will, the NYT, and the GOP really look like fools now? All that blather about the stage..— Politburo
- Politburo: What do you want us to say? Jimmy Carter could have given the same speech in '76. Obama's ideas (and his new-found populism) are nothing new.— bon
- I guess it's all a matter of perspective. Perhaps this is why conservatives complain about media bias so much, whereas liberals just don't see it. When I read those passages, it comes across as very fair, balanced, and non-partisan. Others see bias. Very interesting.— chrissmith
- It would be ideal if you didn't say anything :)— Politburo
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
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