The Morning After . . .urp!

Columbia Journalism Review watches the election returns

Joel Meares: “So, my election night was spent flicking between MSNBC and Fox News; my surf along the Republican wave guided by the blustery Keith Olbermann and his panel of MSNBC big names for some returns, and by Fox’s Megyn Kelly and Bret Baier for others. As you might expect, it was like dinner with the Montagues and Capulets; two households alike in indignity with very different takes on the dishes being served. . . .

“Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann (R), . . . wide-eyed and wrapped in what looked like a coppery prom dress, refused to answer [Chris] Matthews’s question about her suggestion that members of Congress should be investigated for being anti-American. A sign behind her, waved about by a supporter, read, ‘How’s the tingle Chris?’ As off-camera laughs could be heard, and Bachmann evaded the question with rote Tea Party patriotisms, Matthews asked, ‘Has someone hypnotized you? Has someone put you under a trance tonight?’”

“Fox portrayed every GOP victory as a repudiation of Obama, and the overall wave . . . as history-making. Conveniently, they didn’t cut to O’Donnell’s ready-for-SNL concession speech. The central Fox panel was made up of [Roger] Ailes’s tamer brood . . . as well as Karl ‘this is the most historic election in the history of foreverdom’ Rove, who, as you would expect, talked over anyone who suggested the results didn’t show a tidal wave spewed out of a volcano set off by an earthquake.”

Liz Cox Barrett: “CNN clearly wants to wow viewers with the whiz-bang: the ‘data wall,’ the ‘election matrix,’ the ‘sentiment analysis’ of the ‘Twittersphere,’ the exit poll 3-D doodads that from time to time crowd Ali Velshi out of the shot entirely. Early in the evening, [Wolf] Blitzer was on it. . . ‘Everyone remembers Christine O’Donnell, the candidate who said she was not a witch. She is not going to be a United States senator, at least for now, either.’ Zing!”

Lauren Kirchner: “NPR is a great choice for following the election if you want your poll updates punctuated by stories about the BP settlement, the S&P 500, and a Modigliani painting now up for auction in Manhattan.”

• For more almost-instant analysis of the analysis—Election Night Coverage Roundup: What was said on CNN, NPR, the BBC, the NYT, and elsewhere, visit Columbia Journalism Review.

Editorial Comment: I need a morning-after pill....

PeezPix: Chilly Day—Autumn snow on the Bear River Range

JCOM News Note: NPR foreign correspondent ANNE GARRELS comes to Utah State TODAY! for class meetings and to deliver a Morris Media & Society Lecture: “Bearing Witness—One journalist’s take on covering the world.” Garrels comes to USU fresh from several weeks in Russia. When the U.S. “shock and awe” bombing started in Baghdad, Garrels was one of 16 U.S. journalists who stayed to cover the invasion to topple Saddam Hussein. Her 2003 book, Naked in Baghdad, tells that story. Over three decades, Garrels has been in Russia, China, the Middle East and elsewhere in war and peace to bear witness and tell the rest of us what she has seen. JCOM student session Wednesday 11/3, 2:30 p.m. AnSc 303. Public speech Thursday, 11/4, 2-3:15 p.m., USU Performance Hall. Free & open to everyone.

WRITING PROF WANTED! JCOM @ USU is hiring. A search for a new tenure-track faculty member to focus on the teaching of writing. Revolutionary! See job posting at Utah State University HR or email ted.pease@usu.edu.

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