Source: Ron Judd, Cascadia Daily News
“Not the odds, but the stakes.”
For some election observers, that’s become the battle cry for media coverage, and citizen involvement, in the 2024 presidential election, a contest that’s already underway.
Ahead lies a full spring and summer of campaigning for what could be an up/down vote on representative democracy itself, given the clear track records of the current candidates, incumbent Joe Biden and his challenger, the unrepentant insurrectionist, authoritarian-inclined Donald Trump.
To most of us with even middling memories, the stakes seem clear, but thanks in part to a lifelong knee-jerk reflex among professional media wonks to treat opposing sides equally in coverage — even when one represents measurable truth and the other, demonstrable rank propaganda — the picture of U.S. presidential politics is often muddy to the masses. The “stakes” argument, laid out beautifully in recent months by New York media observer Jay Rosen, is an attempt to continue to reframe election coverage in a way that skirts the effects of talking points and sinister spin.
Read more: https://www.cascadiadaily.com/2024/apr/04/voters-will-lead-the-way-again-in-cdns-citizens-agenda-2024/