Mo' Press Bias

The Hollywood Reporter looks at all the Reagan coverage, and decides that Brokow and Jennings were wrong to complain that it was all too much:

They needn’t worry, because if the Internet is an accurate guide for what’s on the minds of Americans — and studies indicate that it is — then the public in big numbers is craving news about the recently deceased former president.

At Yahoo! searches for Reagan spiked 5,314% Saturday, the day he died, compared with the daily average. Since then, the portal has seen huge numbers of searches for information about Reagan’s funeral, scheduled for Friday, and his presidential library in Simi Valley, Calif. Lycos said that Reagan-related searches between Monday and Wednesday were 12 times what they were in the seven days before his death.

But then the very next sentence reads:

The major online news sites, not surprisingly, have dedicated an inordinate amount of space to Reagan, and the strategy seems to have paid off. [emphasis added.]

Merriam-Webster defines inordinate as “exceeding reasonable limits.”

Which is it, Mr. Hollywood Reporter: Is the Reagan coverage what the people want, or is it inordinate?

Big Media thinks the correct answer is, of course, “both.” What the people want — what the audience they serve wants — is not what the press thinks is reasonable. So when you read stories like this and feel disdain for the press, remember that the feeling is mutual.