Sam Smith - Watching Andrea Mitchell drone on about the post-Breyer Supreme Court reminded me of a media problem that gets virtually no attention: all day news channels have to fill all their days with news, or an imitation of it. Analyzing who is going to replace Breyer is of magnificent assistance in this since it will take months before the choice is finally made. The problem is that, as a consequence, Breyer will be transformed from a highly respected justice to another boring character the media can't stop talking about.
Along with the endless speculative stories, there are other wastes of time such as over coverage of bad statements by public officials, followed by even more coverage of their apologies, RF Kennedy Jr. being a recent case in point. It is almost as if to become important you have to do something stupid and then correct yourself.
Add to this the fact that politicians and other public figures have become more pompous and far less entertaining leaving someone like Mitchell with matters as boring as reporting a trash pickup.
My own solution to this problem is to only watch MSNBC at mealtime and tediously scan one to two thousand headlines daily looking for the real stuff. It is hard work but at least I still will retain my respect for Justice Breyer.
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