The events of the last week make it clear that the two campaigns have been carefully constructed to seize on the slightest gaffe, misstatement or political opening to create a mini-scandal, even if the flurry of news coverage lasts just days or even a matter of hours…

And the media appears more than willing to cooperate. The expressions of outrage over the comments by Ms. Rosen and Mr. Romney jumped from Twitter to the mainstream media (including this newspaper) in record time. And the appetite for political chatter on 24-hour cable news channels appears unquenchable.

“The major blame for this lies just as much with your profession as it does with mine,” one Democratic communications adviser wrote in an e-mail to The Times last week…

It took less than 30 minutes for Mr. Obama’s top advisers to anticipate the blowback from Ms. Rosen’s comments on CNN at 10 p.m. Wednesday night. Using Twitter, they expressed their opposition to her comments in less than an hour.