Fallows on the debates

The Atlantic has a great article by the brilliant James Fallows dissecting the primary debates in both political and media and media terms. It's a must read for anyone who watched the debates and was in the least-bit dismayed by the hacky media approach--game show and gotcha questions, absurd hypotheticals, playing the favorites, and process over policy questions.

Atlantic also does a good job integrating video. It's a slick production.

Of particular interest is how Fallows treats Tim Russert, who was one of the worst violators and probably set the trend (especially because he was smart and informed, unlike say Wolf Blitzer).

Let's hope those in the MSM (I'm officially a blogger now ;) reads Fallows' article closely.