Krugman, right as usual, on the topic of media obsession with trivialities and neglect of substance:

Triumph of the Trivial

Somewhere along the line, TV news stopped reporting on candidates’ policies, and turned instead to trivia that supposedly reveal their personalities. We hear about Mr. Kerry’s haircuts, not his health care proposals. We hear about George Bush’s brush-cutting, not his environmental policies.

…the triumph of the trivial is not a trivial matter. The failure of TV news to inform the public about the policy proposals of this year’s presidential candidates is, in its own way, as serious a journalistic betrayal as the failure to raise questions about the rush to invade Iraq.

There’s a reason I chose not to work in journalism: With a few notable exceptions, it’s ultimately a pretty feckless occupation.