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We want the dirt

Just when you thought politics could not get any more predictable, somebody goes and pulls the chair right out from under you. In today's political climate, its assumed that if you run for office every minor infraction, torrid affair, draft-dodging, coke-smoking, tax-evading detail of your life is going to be used against you by your enemy. But for one man, this inevitable fate will not be. Instead of waiting for the press or his opponent, Ted Kennedy, to dig up the sordid details of his past, Republican Senatorial candidate from Massachusetts, Jack Robinson, released all the dirt about himself he could think of. This was a brilliant political move, but it makes a sad statement about the state of the American press. In this age of instant information, politicians realize they must surrender all their privacy and past to the American press.

Understandably, Americans want and deserve to know about their elected officials. These officials will make legislation that greatly effects the lives of all of their constituents. However, the politicians must walk a fine line between being a public servant and relinquishing their privacy. Americans may not deserve to know who the president is diddling in the White House, but we certainly want to know when he is lying. We demand that the press corps delve deep into the politician's life to let us know exactly who will be speaking for us in the capital. This too, makes the press' role a difficult one. Each day, millions of journalists world wide make decisions about what and how they are going to report stories. They make tough choices about what is important to report, and sometimes they choose what is going to get them the most money over what really demands reporting. As long as this is true, laundry lists of irrelevant misdeeds are going to keep appearing both in legitimate and not so crediable newspapers and reports. Instead of political reporting being based on issues, it will continue to be based on sensation and scandal.

Perhaps it is time the media takes another look at what they are willing to report. Rupert Murdoch is responsible for bringing us "Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire?" and other such mind numbing experiences. For example, when the Senate wanted to pass the Telecommunications Bill that would charge major television stations for the right to use their bandwidths, did they have a responsibility to inform us just how much money they were willing to spend lobbying against this bill? Politicians must report exactly who is contributing to their campaigns, yet the media is not willing to relinquish how much they are putting into the pork barrels themselves. The press does an excellent job in reporting the misdeeds of other men, and but rarely does much policing of its own policies.

The situation during the Clinton scandal is a perfect illustration of how far the press corps was willing to go to get ratings and readership.

Most news sources were vying with one another, seeing which could have the juiciest teaser at the six o'clock newshour. The Internet teemed with up to the minute rumors and facts all relating to the "alleged sexual relationship," our nation's leader was having. During that period many other relevant news stories broke, and few got as comprehensive coverage as the cigars and pizza at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It is sad, that during one of our country's most pivotal election years it is assumed that the dirt is more important than the issues. The press will claim that they are just giving the people what they want by covering the scandals and mulling the rumors, but that is what is wrong with journalism today: money and sensationalism are still the bottom line.

Politics has always been a dirty business. Few people are really able to hold up to the scrutiny of press, which is an unforgiving body willing to delve back years into people's personal histories. Few lives are not peppered with mistakes and indiscretions, and at the end of the day politicians are humans too. Perhaps Jack Robinson, the old trailblazer that he is, will be the first to take the sensational wind out of the press, and reset it to reporting the issues.