A Bit of Navel-Gazing About the Media and the Campaign Trail

Pundits hold forth at the Folger Shakespeare Library. (Justin Bishop) About 250 folks trudged through the bitter cold to the Folger Shakespeare Library to hear five pundits dissect the media and the 2008 presidential race at a Vanity Fair forum Tuesday night. Really! And it's not like this was going to be covered on the midterm or anything. Is D.C. a crazy place or what? Here are the CliffsNotes: Todd Purdum kicked it off by asking whether the mainstream media are broken. Everyone (even the blogger guy!) agreed they are not. Dan Bartlett, the White House aide turned CBS analyst, said they might have a branding problem, though. Frank Rich of the NYT said reporting still matters to readers. And the Times doesn't care if they read it "in print or online or on their iPhone, or pick it up on their fillings from outer space." Ha! Blogger guy