I saw "Outfoxed". Didn't do a lot for my respect for Bill O'Reilly. There's an excellent "Shut up!" montage. Much more significantly, the movie looks at Fox's 2:00 a.m. projection of a Bush win on Election Night 2000 (the one heavy-breathers enjoy noting was decided by Fox staffer and Bush cousin John Ellis). Did you know that Fox's call drove a domino-drop of projections by all the other networks in the ensuing minutes? One expert speculates that the projection created an influential climate of assumption about the Bush win, that hung over the Bush v. Gore court battle. The scary thing here isn't so much a partisan channel driving the story, but the idea that competition would outweigh considered reporting by everyone. I don't know enough to even speculate about whether that might have eventually affected Bush v. Gore, but the question reminded me of Jeff's New Republic article, "Disgrace."…

I heard a couple of ideas and stories at the Kettering Foundation last week that really got me thinking. In a discussion on the conducive conditions for democracy in a community, Lew Friedland used the phrase "civic ecology," i.e., the relationships between citizens, decision-makers, advocates and the media. This model for democracy-building feels rich in opportunity and loaded with fewer of the dangers than the terminology most decision-makers, advocates and journalists use. The first two groups are inevitably agenda-driven and their language usually reflects it. Decision-makers often promote public deliberation so they can "educate" citizens - an opaque term that can belie a more Orwellian agenda. Advocates are always trying to "reinvigorate" the public discourse and promote "engagement." The obvious problem there is that the language tends toward blaming the victim. The deeper problem, I think, is the implied narrative of uphill toil. There is the problem and we have…

Don't you love it? There warn't no Blogger's Alley at the 2000 conventions, I'll warrant. Check out this sleek collection of blog feeds at ConventionBloggers.com. I, alas, am in Northern California. But I can hardly complain ...