Lest anyone thing Chris is exaggerating or that the profession of journalism has taken a sudden dive, I'd like to offer the following anecdote. Twenty five years ago I worked briefly as a sports journalist: I covered a major tennis tournament at the Cow Palace (S.F.). There were about twenty journalists covering the same tournament. As I spent two days loyally glued to my seat and taking notes on a rather lack-luster slug fest between the luminaries of the day, every single other journalist covering the tournament was sitting in the pressroom stuffing themselves with the free food/drink and watching that weekend's football games. Every once in a while they'd glance at the court monitor and scribble a few notes. That was the extent of their coverage. I was shocked, but the editor of the tennis journal told me it was not unusual.
Why should political journalism be any different?
Joanna