Katie Couric's Notebook: Endless Announcements
Video: Yesterday, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney declared his candidacy for president. Last Saturday, Illinois Senator Barack Obama did the same.
Why was neither announcement a surprise? Maybe because everybody knows that both these candidates--along with all the others--have been running for months.
And yet, we --the media -- and they -- the candidates -- conspire with each other, and pretend that these announcements are actually news.
The game has been played every election since 1988 and it goes like this:
Candidates announce they're thinking of exploring--we cover that. Candidates announce they're officially exploring--we cover that. Candidates announce they're--quote--"pretty sure" they're going to run--we cover that. And finally, candidates announce that they're actually running--and as you'll see this week, we cover that.
It's a win-win for the press and the politicians...we both get the stories we want. But the public just gets information overload.
That's a page from my notebook.