Monday, March 24, 2008

What about balance?

I recently watched an ABC news clip about how white Pennsylvanian men see Barack Obama. I can see the specific focus: apparently white men have been a critical voting block in most states. What bothered me about this piece, however, was that it was filmed entirely in a bowling alley in Allentown. Only a small percentage of the population bowls, and Allentown is one (small) city in the whole state.

I have no reason to believe that the clip was inaccurate, but it was very incomplete. In the name of fairness, shouldn't the crew have gone to Philadelphia, one of the most liberal areas, as well as to the conservative "T"?

Furthermore, they didn't mention any issues other than race and Rev. Wright. While those are important issues for many people, Allentown has had hard economic luck for some time. All of Pennsylvania is facing a year of no state college loans because of mass pilfering in the state higher education assistance association. To be fair, shouldn't the reporter have asked if people trusted either candidate on economics? After all, we aren't choosing a new M & M. Some people are going to look at more than just color.

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