With the May 6 Democratic primaries in North Carolina and Indiana, we return to U.S. Presidential Elections 2008. With tens of millions spent and record voter turnout, Barack Obama
and Hillary Clinton continue to battle for the Democratic nomination in
the few primaries that remain. Meanwhile, in recent weeks, McCain has turned to fund-raising and a
""It's Time for Action" tour, campaigning among working-class and poor
white and black Americans. We hope you'll look for stories not just on the horse race, but the issues and submit examples of good journalism on the topic. And, please remember to review those found by others, adding comments about the stories' strengths and weaknesses.
In a news analysis, "Options Dwindling for Clinton," (NewsTrust reviews) a story featured story this week, New York Times' reporter Adam Nagourney writes,
In this case, a split was not a draw. -- Despite narrowly winning
Indiana, while losing North Carolina, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
did not fundamentally improve her chances of securing the Democratic
presidential nomination.
After Texas, the Wall Street Journal's blog had speculated on Rush Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos," a plan for Republicans to switch registrations and vote for Clinton so as to extend the race. While there was a report in the Indianapolis Star 'Hardcore' Republicans voting Democrat (See Reviews), any such attempt at strategic voting didn't seem to be much in play.
As Jim Sleeper over at TPM Cafe awaited the results of the Democratic primary, he suggested the way to combat a Clinton surge was to come out for affirmative action based on class, not race.
April 23 to 27, Chris Finnie and I co-hosted U.S. Presidential Elections 2008. On the heels of the Pennsylvania primary, we were assisted by a slew of hosts, members and staff who submitted and reviewed stories. While many of the initial stories were on the horse race, our community soon found stories on more substantive subjects, such as April 29th's news analysis on election reform, "In a 6-to-3 Vote, Justices Uphold a Voter ID Law," by the NYT's Linda Green (reviews).
Chris provided me with some insight on what she gained from co-hosting:
I was surprised at how much I learned. I fancied myself fairly
knowledgeable about politics. After all, I have been heavily involved
in the political arena for about 4 years now. I've been interviewed by
two of the journalists whose stories I posted and quoted
several times by one. But digging to find stories, reading, and
reviewing as many as I have, did deepen my understanding of a
topic I thought I knew well. In a few cases, I was able to add a
personal perspective to some of my reviews--which I hope gave NewsTrust
readers a unique angle on the stories.
A look back at top-rated stories on the U.S. Economy
As we moved on to the economy, our co-host was Dale Penn. Interest in Presidential Elections 2008 persisted, as members found stories which covered both topics such as "Gas tax follies" by NYT economics columnist Paul Krugman. Among the reviews, was one by host Stephen Pizzo, who wrote,
Any politician who promises to do anything to make gas cheaper should
be sent packing for that reason alone. The one thing that has held back
alternative (renewable) sources of energy is the economics of the
situation. When compared to the price of petroleum products everything
else costs more. So we are not about to make the changes we must make
until the price of petroleum energy sources is high enough to make the
alternatives attractive and economically viable. Lowering gas prices
will simply create another fool's paradise for another few years until
a real energy crisis hits, and then it will be too late. McCain and
Clinton are simply trying to buy votes with this nonsense. It's a
bankrupt policy being put forth for the most corrupt of reasons.
The top rated story was A Feeble Recovery: The fundamental economic weaknesses of the 2001-07 expansion, a special report by
Josh Bivens and John Irons of the Economic Policy Institute.
Coming Up in May: Join our "news hunts" on the Middle East, the Internet, Media & Politics
Here
at NewsTrust, we're now doing 'news hunts' weekly in collaboration with media partners like the Scientific American, Global
Voices, Huffington Post, Link TV, Mother Jones. And we're discussing similar partnerships with some major news providers, to be
announced soon.
Next week, if you're interested in world news, we'll be covering the
Middle East, with the help of our partners the Council on Foreign
Relations, Global Voices and Link TV. And then we'll move on to other featured topics and collaborations:
- The Internet (and its impact on 'Digital Natives') - with Frontline and students from Stanford University (May 19)
- Presidential Elections 2008 - with the Huffington Post (May 26)
- Media and Politics - with the Poynter Institute (June 2)
Host a topic on NewsTrust
If you're a host, interested in co-hosting any topic, from either the list above or your own favorites, drop us line at <[email protected]>. If
you're not a host already, you can become one. Review often, write
comments based on journalistic quality and tell us something about
yourself in your member profile. Kaizar, Tish and I will on the
lookout for potential hosts as we validate new reviewers. And, you can
always drop us a line and nominate yourself.
Meanwhile we'll be looking forward to your reviews on Presidential Elections 2008.
