"A VACUOUS IDEOLOGUE"
In this week's online survey, the MediaBistro site asks whether the coverage of Reagan's death is overkill. Possible answers:
No. He is perhaps the most influential recent political figure, and his life is being justly celebrated.
No. A president's death is big news, but the coverage should be less hagiographic. Um, Iran-Contra?
Maybe. His important life should be celebrated, though at some point enough is enough.
Yes. Give the man his due, but a 93-year-old's natural death is not big news.
Yes. He was a vacuous ideologue and his death was not unexpected. Enough already.
Guess which answer has managed to stay over 50 percent all day? The survey is unscientific, but the dominance of answer five certainly doesn't exactly make the participating journalists look, uh, fair and balanced.
Here are the results. (If you can't access the site, please let me know. I'm a MediaBistro member and can't tell whether it's using cookies to let me on.)