Fed Up With Election Coverage

Holy sweet zombie jeebus am I sick of polls being the focus of election coverage. I know, I know, Kim Campbell was right when she famously declared that an election is no time to discuss policy, but seriously, can our leading news organizations do nothing but cover polls? If they were all showing the same thing, that might be meaningful, but they all show different things, and not even the same trends. And yet every single one gets reported as if it were an earth shattering event. Polls are not supposed to be the story in an election.

News organizations have gotten unbelievably sloppy and lazy. They save a tonne of money by having one hack sitting in an office writing horserace stories about polls, when what they should be doing is sending out reporters to cover and critique the policy of the various parties. There is no critical commentary in the media, simply a mindless and endless nattering about polls and how the change in one poll, within the margin of error, means that the world has come to an end for one party or another. If the CPC is up two points, then they are 'approaching majority territory'. If the Liberals are down two points, then they are 'spiralling into oblivion'. If the NDP is up two they are 'closing in on the official opposition' and if they are down two the next day they are 'falling into oblivion'. If the GPC is up two, they are 'about to make a breakthrough' and if they are down two they are 'failing to connect with voters.' This is all complete horseshit.

Our media needs to get it together, and cover the election, not the damn polls.

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 120