Allan Loudell and the Increasingly Irrelevent Traditional Media
Does the Country Really Need Allan Loudell Style “Objective” Journalists?
Afraid of being seen as “liberal,” Loudell and the rest of the traditional media has ignored the simple truth that Obama is winning. Instead, they continue to push the narrative that the presidential race is close. As a result, people are bailing on the traditional media as a source of information and are going directly to more reliable outlets.
The sham “objectivity” that requires Allan to “balance” true and accurate stories of rightwing failure and malfeasance with transparently inane “he said/she said” counterpoints is now hurting old media. Perhaps Loudell has the stature in Delaware to buck this trend, but I don’t see it happening.
There is, no doubt, a lot of corporate pressure put on him to continue to play along with the wingnut fantasy that there is no such thing as objective truth. He is bound by a system that dictates that there are no real facts, but every news story about politics is the net outcome of the positive and negative spin of opposing ideological camps. That Loudell cannot stand up to that pressure is not surprising but too bad for Delaware. WDEL is the 70th largest news/talk radio station in the country, and the audiece that depends on WDEL for “news” is getting dissed.
Here is the blurb that got me thinking about all this from electoral-vote.com
Are the Traditional Media Afraid to Tell the Truth?
Pretty much all the election projection Websites like this one show Obama over 270 electoral votes. Even very overtly Republican Websites like Real Clear Politics and Election Projection have Obama at 277 and 364 electoral votes, respectively. In contrast, MSNBC and CNN have Obama at 264 and the New York Times has him at 260. Chris Bowers has a story on this discrepancy. He hypothesizes that they are afraid of being accused of being pro-Obama and would like a close race since that gets more readers/viewers. He ends with: “So much information is publicly available now that a few nerds obsessed with poll numbers are much better sources for election information than you will evey get from big media.” I guess that’s a compliment, sort of.
I don’t get much chance to listen to Allan during the day, but it seems to me that much of the Traditional Media talking about a close election are largely swayed by the national tracking polls. There is some reason to do this (not good reason, but some) but that approach ignores that elect a president by Electoral Votes, not by popular vote. The horserace narrative is best served by the daily trackers, but really, unless you aggregate this data, you aren’t getting much that is especially useful.
Part of me wonders if the media isn’t keeping with what cassandra calls the horserace narrative because it benefits them: higher ratings, better advertising sales….
If you knew for certain that Election Night would be a 1972-style pasting, wouldn’t you be willing to bet that viewership would be way down that night. Likewise, who needs a pundit to explain a landslide….
I think it also benefits them because the horserace is really more interesting than alot of policy stuff. Plus, to be fair — if you are following these guys for two years, how much policy reporting can you do before you are basically in repeats?
What to me is an even more interesting question, and I really don’t know the answer, is
Will the doom and gloom on the economy in general spur or depress voter turn-out?
I can see it both ways: people getting energized to vote for the candidate they think will best get us through the mess (or against the one they fear)….
Or, I can see (with a stock market down to 5-6,000) millions of people just throwing up their hands and checking out.
At this point–as poorly as McCain has played his hand for the past three weeks–you’d have to blind to realize that only the ultimate October surprise could render election night competitive…
The one good thing about the media portraying this as a horse race is it keeps the sense of urgency up. Voters tend to show up for a close race.
Why is it so important to you for a RESPECTED journalist like Loudell to virtually endorse anyone?
This may be one of the true pet peeves I have with you (this and your deck). He’s not a blogger, he’s a journalist. He’d also probably lose a good chunk of his contacts if he were to publically pick a side.
Plus, as a journalist/reporter he reports what IS, not what will be (outside of the immediate future). He may have an interview or a guest that could prognosticate and report on that, OK fine, but for himself, that would be beyond his scope.
Relax, Jason. Go comb some more of Celia’s archives.
I’m with Smitty on this one. Though I’m working for “the competition,” I still don’t miss Allan’s news. He’s a consummate journalist and I have no problem with his political reporting.
Just admit it, Jason. You want all the media to declare Obama the winner three weeks before the stupid election.
pick a side?
Look. Say a Democratic HQ building was built. That’s a fact right?
Obama has a lead. That is a fact. I’m just saying REPORT THE FACTS MR JOURNALIST!
Don’t say, “A Democratic Headquarters building was built on 4th street, but Republicans claim that no building has been built.”
Dude, your circle jerk will be complete shortly after polls close on Nov 4. Be patient, grasshopper…patience.
Just get in the meditation stance now and repeat after me: “Ohhhmmmm….President Obama….Ohhhmmmm…President Obama…”
It’s coming, Jason, it’s coming…relax.
“Just the facts.” That’s my mantra.
Alan Loudell has been fooling people for years. Even when he was at WILM, he tried to hide his republicanism. If you notice the guests he has on, nearly all are from right wing groups.
WDEL is a republican owned, managed and controlled radio station. If you listen to Jenson for five minutes you would laugh out loud at his lies and distortions and opinions. Jenson is exactly what the management of WDEL want in a talking head. Loudell has never fooled me and I have been listening to him for years. He likes to think of himself as a local kingmaker, but in fact he is just as right wing as Jenson and their management.
You are acting like a conspiracist nut. Know what righty-Republicans say? Same thing as you, but about his favortism for Democrats. This is the same argument as Liberal Media v Conservative Media.
Stalemate. If you are already this entrenched in such idiotic triviality, you will never be convinced otherwise.
Loudell is politically biased (rolls eyes)…cripe, you all are nucking futs.
The worst lately from LoudElly was when he was speaking to a British journalist and said how the candidates in the last debate didn’t look at each other. I saw the debate and saw Obama look frequently at his opponent.
LoudElly isn’t afraid of looking too liberal. He is afraid of not keeping to the conservative wingnut line. Is his job at risk otherwise? He seems like a sensible person.
anon sounds like Liz Allen, disgraced yet again and back yet again.
“WDEL is a republican owned, managed and controlled radio station.”
Prove it. In fact, you’re wrong, but I’m interested to see how you intend to prove it.
“If you notice the guests he has on, nearly all are from right wing groups.”
A lie. Nearly all the guests he has on are journalists or university professors. I know because I edit all the interviews for podcast.
“Jenson is exactly what the management of WDEL want in a talking head.”
Yes, he and I certainly are two peas in a pod.
“in fact he is just as right wing as Jenson and their management.”
You don’t know anything about his politics, because he’s careful not to betray his political leanings in anything he does on the air. I do, and I can assure you you’re lying.
“Loudell has never fooled me and I have been listening to him for years. He likes to think of himself as a local kingmaker,”
You’re not only a liar, you’re a rectal sphincter. He thinks no such thing.
If you’re going to go around lying about someone respected in the community, at least attach your name so I can give you what you deserve next time I see you — a good, swift kick in whichever set of gonads you possess. Then again, that wouldn’t really both you, would it? Because you obviously don’t have any stones at all.
Again, because of Liz Allen, I must say these views do not represent those of WDEL ownership or management.
Nancy: Nobody respects someone who makes up pet names for people whose socks she couldn’t carry.
Yeah Right! Schmuck.
LoudElly has become a joke since this 2008 DEM primary saw him sniffing around for the worst dirt on Obama vs Clinton with his obvious bias toward Clinton. Clinton was the choice of the GOPerheads natch.
I saw him on the Norman Oliver show stumbling around in an overexcited state and making an idiot of himself. He also kept trying to plug his website. It was ego-out-of-control.
Well, I have to say I’m sorry to have personalized with regard to Allan, because I think we all know he and Drew Volturo are the best journalists in Delaware right now.
My point (which I stand by) was that Allan – like the rest of the traditional media – is stuck with this sham “objectivity” when it comes to reporting on anything political.
“It was ego-out-of-control.”
Versus just-plain-out-of-control, which I suppose you’re more familiar with. Let me amend what I said earlier — you couldn’t carry even ONE of his socks.
These views do not represent those of WDEL ownership or management.
“I think we all know he and Drew Volturo are the best journalists in Delaware right now.”
With all respect to Drew, who is a very good reporter, I find it hard to take seriously the type of day-to-day incrementalist reporting that the Delaware State News encourages – putting formal campaign kickoffs on the front page when the candidate has been in the race for months, printing press releases verbatim, etc.
They have to turn out that volume of copy because the paper has less than five actual news reporters. I believe they have just four right now, in fact. I have very little respect for a news operation that doesn’t invest in the news but tries to paint itself as a statewide paper.
“I have very little respect for a news operation that doesn’t invest in the news but tries to paint itself as a statewide paper.”
You have very little respect for all of them then.
Touche – a fatal wound, alas!