1/31/2005|||110716323469393399||||||

THE MEEJAH

Well, I wasn't expecting the Today programme staff to be wearing party hats - it's not their job to be cheerleaders - but the curiously downbeat tone of the election coverage this morning was pretty weird. As for John Simpson's "Panorama" dispatch last night, all we got was another stale slice of the conventional wisdom. It sounded all the more jarring coming straight after reports of the turn-out. I'm all for reporting bad news, but I find myself agreeing with Roger L. Simon (again):

"The time has come for the press corps to admit that they have done a terrible
job with the whole story. As Christopher Hitchens said this afternoon on the"Friends of Democracy" CSPAN airing: 'The majority of the western press placed its bet on the word 'quagmire' and have not been able to get off it.' No kidding."

I'm surprised Bob Herbert wasn't a special guest on Today. He certainly strikes the right note:

"A real democracy requires an informed electorate. What we saw yesterday was an
uncommonly brave electorate. But it was woefully uninformed."

Just to repeat: I don't expect non-stop revelry. After all, this is just the first step in the journey. But please...

|||Clive|||http://clivedavis.blogspot.com/2005/01/meejah-well-i-wasnt-expecting-today.html|||1/31/2005 09:09:00 am|||||||||

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