Old Media Claims of Poverty

As I watched coverage of the Democratic convention (actually, clips of coverage - the only thing I watched live was Obama's acceptance), I was struck by how the networks and major newspapers (and even bloggers) were out in force.

For the television personalities, not only were there an awful lot of them in Denver, but they had lots of shiny new sets built. The GOP convention offers more of the same.

Is this the same old media that has claimed that as viewership/readership/circulation drops due to a number of reasons, they will lack the resources to provide excellent news coverage? You couldn't tell from the vast amount of money they obviously spent in Denver, or will spend in St. Paul.

Tons of reporters and talking heads. Loads of support personnel. Hotel rooms, airplane rides, restaurant meals, dry cleaning, the list goes on and on. And for what? To either watch them in a booth talking about what was being said on the convention floor behind them, or reading what they had written about what had gone on? Couldn't they do that without actually being there? Name one major news item that came out of the Denver convention that was a result of a reporter being on scene.

Besides chasing around the disgruntled Hillary supporters hoping to get some scoop, I don't recall anything new or interesting. Brian Ross from ABC News did his typical "chasing the money" report that showed that lobbyists and corporations fund the parties and events, but we knew that already. Who funded which party? Who was there? How much was spent? Were any laws broken? Is there anything about the events that would make me squeamish about the Democratic contenders?

Seems to me they could have kept everyone home, saved a lot of money, and provided some in-depth, highly-researched analysis of what the speakers had to say, if for no other reason than to provide good information to prospective voters, especially the undecideds, so that the voting public was a somewhat informed electorate for a change.

More of the same for the GOP convention, I'm sure. What a waste.