One of my favorite big-time bloggers, Glenn Greenwald has been watching television news the past few days as the brouhaha over Obama's "bitter" comments (predictably) unfolds. His critique seems spot-on to me.
"Our elections are dominated by the same tired personality script, trotted out over and over and over. Democrats and liberals -- no matter how poor their upbringing, no matter how self-made they are, no matter how egalitarian their policies -- are the freakish, out-of-touch elitists who despise the values of the Regular Americans. Right-wing leaders -- no matter how extravagantly rich they are by virtue of other people's money, no matter how insulated their lives are, no matter how indifferent their policies are to the vast rich/poor gap -- are the normal, salt-of-the-earth Regular Folk. These petty, cliched storylines drown out every meaningful consideration and dictate our election outcomes, and they are deployed automatically."
It's true.
Think about how many times you heard about John Kerry's heiress wife, and about the fact that they lived in a house that was purchased with her family money. It crept into news reports over and over again. Have we heard a peep in the media about John McCain's wealthy wife? No. Not even when the media attended a barbeque at his extravagant Arizona home (that belongs to his wife). And you won't hear about it.
Why not? Because it doesn't fit the television news overarching narrative -- that John Kerry was wimpy, effete, snobbish, and out-of-touch. The idea that he married a wealthy woman and is beholden to her for her money fits that narrative, because it helps to emasculate him. But John McCain by contrast is supposedly a straight-talking, war hero tough guy. So the fact that he married a wealthy woman and is living off of her fortune undercuts that narrative. So they can't mention that.
It doesn't matter how much public opinion shifts away from the Republicans...the narrative stays the same. Why? I'm not sure. Some times I think it is because journalists are simply lazy, and don't want to do the work necessary to break out of these pre-cast narratives. Other times I think it is because they are part of an insider media culture that shapes their world view. Or maybe they really are (unconsciously?) beholden to their corporate patrons.
Regardless of the reason, the bottom line is that the Democratic candidate can not expect to get a fair shake in the media, and we need to go around them.
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3 comments:
I think it is interesting that two people I know can have such vastly different opinions of the media...my friend Jolene will tell you that almost every major network's news programs are liberally skewd; that hasn't been my own observation (although I must admit that I don't spend much time watching the news anymore). I don't think that the way the media treats politicians is really any different than the way they treat celebrities. It's never about what they do or what they would like to make happen; it seems to me it's essentially just gossip under the guise of "public interest."
You are so incredibly sexy when you write like that!
Who? Me or Andy? You mean me, right?
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