Friday, March 21, 2008

When Politicians Get Dirty, So Does the Media

I was as shocked and horrified (less shocked, still horrified) to learn about the Spitzer prostitution scandal and I think it's important that the media broke the story.

With that said, here is my grievance:
When politicians get busted for acting vulgarly, it doesn't give the media license to follow suit. I thought about this while reading Brendan Polmer's opinion article "When will they learn? Sex and politics, always a volatile mix" . I know that hypocrisy and political sex scandals undermine voter confidence in government and, for that reason, I agree with Polmer's frustration. At the same time, exercising vulgar language to report on obscene actions strikes me as hypocritical, too.
For example:
Soon enough, the world will know way too much information about Gov. Spitzer's misguided genitals - just as we all know about Bill Clinton and that disgusting blue dress, Mark Foley and his masturbation habits, David Vitter and his diaper fetish, and Larry Craig's wide stance. Gross.
I forgot about the blue dress, didn't know about Foley's masturbation habits or Vitter's diaper fetish, and never took the time to think about Larry Craig's "wide stance," until media, including a college newspaper opinion article, felt it necessary to report the crude details.

Vulgar actions don't warrant vulgar media analysis. Comment on Washingtonpost.com and the let media know if you want to keep reading stories like "Mayflower, Client 9's Sinking Ship."

No comments: