In late August, when I go to Denver, I'll be attending a Democratic National Convention for the fifth time in my life. But for the first time, when I wander across the convention floor, I won't be wearing a press pass.

Last month, at a caucus of voters in the vicinity of my home, I was elected as an Obama delegate. So, for the rest of this year, when I write about the presidential race, I'll be sure to include a disclaimer with that information.

As a media critic and as a media consumer — and, yes, as a supporter of Barack Obama — I was struck by his reference to the news media during his victory speech last Tuesday night in North Carolina.

"We've already seen it," Obama said, "the same names and labels they always pin on everyone who doesn't agree with all their ideas, the same efforts to distract us from the issues that affect our lives, by pouncing on every gaffe and association and fake controversy, in the hopes that the media will play along."

And they certainly have played along. From the front pages of "quality" dailies and the reportage of NPR's drive-time news to the blather-driven handicapping on cable television, the ways that media structures have functioned in recent weeks tell us — yet again — how fleeting any media attention to substance can be.

News outlets kept spinning as media Obama-mania about a longshot candidate morphed into Obama-phobia toward the candidate most likely to become the Democratic presidential nominee. The man who could do little wrong became a man who could do little right. The lines of attack were spurious and protracted enough to be jaw-dropping.

But how often can we be truly shocked by such media patterns? Perennial corporate structures are reinforcing the narrow boundaries.

If this sounds like an old complaint, it is. Institutional dynamics — fueled and steered by ownership, advertising, underwriting and undue government influence — repeat themselves with endless permutations. Dominant media routinely focus on counterfeit issues, often ignoring or trashing progressive options in the process.

Whether the media perseveration is on Pastor Wright, the words "bitter" and "cling," or an absent flag lapel-pin, the wall's surfaces are more rigid when they're less relevant to common human needs and shared dreams.

The media pretense of being a fly on the wall has often been preposterous. In the real world of politics — where power brokers and manipulators proceed with the cynical axiom that perception is reality — the fly on the wall is the wall. The political press corps is not observing reality as much as redefining it while obstructing outlooks and constraining public perceptions.

I've noticed that pundits and reporters, as well as the journalists who present themselves somewhere between the two poles, are routinely inclined to laud the wisdom and strengths of winning candidates. This is particularly true on radio and television, where media professionals on the politics beat are eager to seem like savvy observers.

It has been said that many political journalists wish they could work as campaign strategists (and vice versa). Frequently, via airwaves and in print, pundits and reporters offer unsolicited advice as to how a campaign could get itself back on track.

But instead of such advice, what we need from journalists is clarity.

What exactly that should mean is, of course, subject to very wide interpretation. And that's a key point: So often, what we get from media coverage is reverberating in a huge echo chamber. One week, to hear the most esteemed and influential journalists tell it, Candidate X is tanking and Candidate Y is surging. The next week, Candidate X is on the verge of triumph.

Media coverage has powerful effects, but often it seems to be trapping itself inside its own bubble. Fortunately, voters may have their own ideas.

Norman Solomon's books include "War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death." A documentary film of the same name, based on the book, has just been released on DVD nationwide. For information about Norman Solomon, go to www.normansolomon.com, or visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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