Sex vs substance in political journalism
Matt Bai talks about his new book "All The Truth Is Out," and he and Michael Isikoff weigh in on the trivialization of political reporting.
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Now more than ever, the press is a part of every story it covers. And CNN's "Reliable Sources" is one of television's only regular programs to examine how journalists do their jobs and how the media affect the stories they cover.
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About the host
Brian Stelter is the host of "Reliable Sources" and the senior media correspondent for CNN Worldwide. Before he joined CNN in November 2013, Stelter was a media reporter for The New York Times. He is the author of the New York Times best-seller "Top of the Morning."
Here's his biography. You can read his stories on this blog and at CNNMoney.com/Media/.
@cnnreliable on Twitter
Brian, you still can't see,,, or you don't want to see, the news media's biggest problem.
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Look at the federal tax code. There have been many news reports on the tax code since the 1986 reforms and everyone knows that the code has been repeatedly corrupted by lobbyists and special interest groups. But the voters have never done anything to stop Congress for creating at least one new tax deduction for anyone with enough money for many large campaign contributions. So all of the hard work by the many reporters was an almost complete waste of time. Their only positive accomplishment was the money they earned for entertaining voters and politicians with gotchas. Which is why the reporters failed to communicate. They were entertaining their customers instead of educating voters. But this failure can not be blamed upon the lack of campaign finance reforms. Again, every voter knows that the tax code has been corrupted. So the reporters have accomplished what they think is important. And every Congressman and Senator has acknowledged that the code needs to be reformed. So they should be eager to reform the tax code. And the voters get angry every time the news media publishes another story about the tax code. But their anger always fades away before any reforms can be enacted. Which is why the lobbyists and special interest are more powerful than the voters. And the news media enables this by distracting voters with stories about the Ebola crisis. The ISIS crisis. The unemployment crisis. The election in 2016 crisis. However, this problem could be easily overcome if reporters would just start communicating like a teacher by publishing an annual one week review of events and conditions. It would be easy to make this reportage very profitable. And this remedial education course for voters would also work like the report cars that teachers use for communicating like parents. And most parents, when a child brings home too many bad report cards in a row, will set deadlines for their child to improve. Which is what the voters need to do with their Congressmen and Senators but they can't do it because the news media is repeatedly distracting their short attention spans with the next big story. And no one in the news media wants to change their behavior because they think their time is too valuable to be wasted on communicating like a teacher. You and your colleagues have become so used to seeing yourselves as the people in white hats that you have forgotten that white is also the color of toilet paper.