Time to sex it up

We've got to stop reacting and start acting

Journalism nerds throughout the globe wet themselves as they had two chances in as many months to run with the hackneyed "man bites dog" headline.

We're probably all familiar with the old saw that "dog bites man" stories don't grab listners/viewers/readers (and, therefore, sell ad$) whereas
stories headlined "Man Bites Dog!" do.

Critics point out that this approach costs society as a whole: the news media focuses primarily on the unusual stories while the usual stories fall off the radar. Things like homelessness, unemployment, illiteracy, AIDS, unfair labor practices, civil war in Africa, and on and on, are sacrificed for time devoted to Scott Peterson and steroids in Major League Baseball.

What this means for the left

Witness our President who is now spending attention on Social Security reform. We have men and women in uniform dying overseas with too little armor, rape and slaughter in Darfur, and a number of pressing domestic issues, but all this is being eclipsed. His attention - and the press corps that follows him - is misdirected.

Everyone's got to make a buck and papers are no different when they're owned by corporations. The problem for the left is that liberals are interested in fixing systemic problems like healthcare and poverty. These are hardly sexy.

Could we imbed reporters with poor families struggling to make it through the month? Not as infotaining as jets and bombs and strategy maps, but not a bad start.  

"Framing" issues is important - but how does a political minority focus media attention on the day-to-day issues that we are committed to addressing? Abstinence only sex ed is an outrageous tragedy - but does that sizzle?

We don't have a Democrat with a press corps entourage. Please give me some feedback on ways we can draw attention to our issues so we aren't spending all of our time responding to the Administration's agenda.