A depressing story about the media’s coverage

A depressing story about the media’s coverage of Al Gore during the 2000 election.

Eight years ago, in the bastions of the “liberal media” that were supposed to love Gore — The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, CNN — he was variously described as “repellent,” “delusional,” a vote-rigger, a man who “lies like a rug,” “Pinocchio.” Eric Pooley, who covered him for Time magazine, says, “He brought out the creative-writing student in so many reporters… Everybody kind of let loose on the guy.”

I want to believe that news outlets are in the business of news, not entertainment, but it’s just not true in most cases. Even more depressing is that blogs, especially political blogs, are even worse in this regard.

• Al Gore
• election2000
• journalism
• politics