Speaking to the Seats

February 25, 2012

Speaking to the Seats

I'm really pleased to be a political media correspondent for the Columbia Journalism Review through the presidential election: reporting on the reporting, and bringing a distinctly Michigan vantage as a contributor to what CJR calls The Swing States Project. If you are a regular reader of Isak, you know that CJR is one of my favorites, a presence here from the very early days of the site to, well, two weeks ago. One of my all-time favorite pieces from CJR was featured here last spring in a post headlined "They Wanted Journalists to Say 'Wow'": Karen Rothmyer wrote brilliantly on the intersection of American journalism and NGOs in Africa.

What I mean to say is: it's an honor to be a CJR contributor.

In my first piece, I look at the coverage of Republican candidate Mitt Romney's speech on the 35-yard-line of Ford Field yesterday -- coverage that skewed towards the optics of empty seats nationally, and, in the Detroit area, tilted toward local storylines about whether or not Romney allies himself with the state where he grew up (sometimes at the expense of more significant issues).

Posted at 08:59 AM in Detroit Stories, Isak, Media, Politics | Permalink

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