Out of all of the election coverage over the past two and a half years, the news of John Edwards finally admitting to what most in the media have heard whispers about for years was thoroughly the most depressing. And there were a lot of depressing stories involving the '08 election.
After having stayed out of the spotlight for a considerable amount of time, Edwards reappeared yesterday at Brown University, where he gave a lecture that he calls "Beautiful America." He spoke mostly about the issues on which he built his platform while running for president: universal healthcare and poverty. Though, at this point, do we really want to know about his policies anymore?
I know I don't. I couldn't care less. What I really wanted to know was would anyone ask him about his affair. One student did (well, technically, she asked about the 'moral standards' of politicians) and Edwards gave a typically inexact answer.
Though a news story that I would usually enjoy talking about due to its salacious content---infidelity, the presidency, and a possible love-child, this one just made me feel uneasy. Putting it all into perspective though with the benefit of time, I do believe this story was important belongs alongside the other sexist stories by the media over the course of the last election.
Firstly, the media didn't even bother to report on it even though after the fact, journalists admitted to having known about the affair. Secondly, and most importantly, I would like to know how the mainstream media would have covered this story if all that was replaced was the name 'John' and replaced with 'Johanna?" Would it have been the lapdog it was, as opposed to the watchdog it's supposed to be? Could a Hillary Clinton or Sarah Palin gotten away with this?
After having stayed out of the spotlight for a considerable amount of time, Edwards reappeared yesterday at Brown University, where he gave a lecture that he calls "Beautiful America." He spoke mostly about the issues on which he built his platform while running for president: universal healthcare and poverty. Though, at this point, do we really want to know about his policies anymore?
I know I don't. I couldn't care less. What I really wanted to know was would anyone ask him about his affair. One student did (well, technically, she asked about the 'moral standards' of politicians) and Edwards gave a typically inexact answer.
Though a news story that I would usually enjoy talking about due to its salacious content---infidelity, the presidency, and a possible love-child, this one just made me feel uneasy. Putting it all into perspective though with the benefit of time, I do believe this story was important belongs alongside the other sexist stories by the media over the course of the last election.
Firstly, the media didn't even bother to report on it even though after the fact, journalists admitted to having known about the affair. Secondly, and most importantly, I would like to know how the mainstream media would have covered this story if all that was replaced was the name 'John' and replaced with 'Johanna?" Would it have been the lapdog it was, as opposed to the watchdog it's supposed to be? Could a Hillary Clinton or Sarah Palin gotten away with this?
No comments:
Post a Comment