You Put Your Internet in My Campaign Coverage
The LAT brings us news of a contraption called "the internet" and its great utility to journalists covering a political campaign. And, truly, this "internet" and the thingees people use to communicate on it (via "e-mail") have proven invaluable:
When presumptive Democratic nominee John F. Kerry finished having shoulder surgery last week, one reporter sent an e-mail to his home office — as well as to other journalists. . . "He's out of surgery."
Just a campaign cycle or two ago, it might have been minutes, perhaps even whole quarters of hours, before anyone could file such a report (maybe using a "telephone").
And this "internet" affects more than just stories, it affects journalists:
In elections past, the first question traveling reporters asked about the next night's hotel was a half-joking, "Does it have a bar?" This season, the question is a dead-serious, "Does it have high-speed Internet?"
Actually -- and we're being serious now -- the question is, "Does the bar have high-speed internet?"