I think I'll go back to beating a dead horse: the theory of "media professionals" being hurt by the onslaught of bloggers. At least some of the bloggers have some self awareness - check out Adam Frucci at Gizmodo, who has CES pegged as a media event. Now, contrast that with the media professionals on the major networks and in the major papers - I'll use the US presidential primaries as my example - and without getting into the politics of the race. This deals with the reporting and the actual mechanics of the primary process.

Over the last couple of weeks, we've heard endless tales of who's up, who's down, who "must" win this or that early contest, how a second place showing may be the end of the road.... So I stepped back and looked for the numbers that actually drive the contests, the delegate counts (here and here). As it happens, not quite 2.7 percent of the Democratic delegates have been awarded yet (less if you consider Iowa's odd rules), and only 2.8 percent of Republican delegates have been awarded.

So... the hours of analysis over the meaning of the race is kind of silly - it's barely begun, and something like half the total delegates are at stake on February 5th. This is what passes for "professional" media, on a topic that is fairly important in the US.

Thanks, I think I'll take Frucci's cynicism. He seems to understand the difference between reality and media games.

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