The Mainstream Media's Trivial Pursuit of Campaign 2012

[octoberlib]

http://www.thenation.com/article/170790/mainstream-medias-trivial-pursuit-campaign-2012 .....SNIP.. The second, and related, dynamic involves the inability of mainstream reporters to admit to, and account for, the radicalization of the Republican Party—whether it involves the candidates’ commitment to extremist ideology, or their refusal to allow observable reality to compete with their economic theories, their scientific ignorance, or their loyalty to billionaire funders like the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson. So intense is journalists’ belief that they must find a way to blame “both sides” for whatever one candidate happens to say or do—whether it’s telling an outright lie, making a 180-degree change in position, or refusing to accept a simple economic or scientific fact—that the Republicans have largely been given a pass for the consequences of their Tea Party takeover. Writing to New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan, reader Richard Joffe described the situation with admirable acuity:

According to the media, both sides are equally to blame for refusing to make compromises, both sides are equally to blame for threatening political violence, and both sides are equally to blame for lying…. Although the Republican Party has grown increasingly indifferent to speaking truthfully, it has paid no price, just as it has paid no price for the violence of its language, and its refusal to compromise, because regarding each of these tendencies, the media continues to blame both parties equally.


Even within the uppermost reaches of the mainstream media, reporters demonstrated a lack of interest in questions of governance in favor of those devoted to personality and strategy. When Mitt Romney appeared on Face the Nation in June, CBS’s Bob Schieffer thought it relevant to ask, “So I hear you’ve got an Olympic athlete in the family”—which is an awfully odd way to describe the owner of a million-dollar horse, as Romney’s wife Ann is, but it gave the candidate an opportunity to talk about what a lovely woman he’s married to. On Meet the Press, NBC’s David Gregory failed, during pretty much his entire interview, to pin the candidate down on a single issue of substance, instead peppering him with questions like: “As a candidate now, when was the last time you really got to spend some—some quality time with somebody who is out of work, and what did you get from them?” And when Romney appeared on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, the host used his valuable time to inquire why, in Romney’s view, Barack Obama was the choice of more Americans as a potential dinner companion. Romney manfully admitted that, yes, he really did enjoy dinner with kids and grandkids. Stephanopoulos followed up with this piercing inquiry: “Let’s talk about the debates. They’re coming up, first one on October third. Big moment, right? Make or break?”
Should Mitt Romney become America’s next president, liberals and centrists will no doubt find many potential culprits on whom to hang responsibility. But one point appears inarguable: a vigorous, serious and unstinting focus on Romney and the Republicans’ plans for the country, coupled with sharp and sustained analysis of the disjunction between their actual views and the ones they profess for the purpose of winning elections, would demonstrate that they are well outside the consensus of American voters. Yet because the mainstream media cannot be depended on to provide even the rudiments of an accurate portrayal of the two parties’ positions on the major questions facing the nation, the United States now stands on the brink of four years of catastrophic misrule.

[octoberlib]

1. Obama will win this election despite the MSM. Excellent article! nt

[Beartracks]

2. May I tweak your post? Our VOTES will win it for Obama. Thank you. :) n/t

[octoberlib]

4. Of course! You're absolutely right nt

[ProudProgressiveNow]

3. Great read! nt

[Florida Dem]

5. It's been a massive "lay down"

by the MSM this election cycle. The false equivalency crap is maddening. The superficial way in which stories have been reported by the major outlets is insulting. It still amazes me that the main storyline coming out of the first debate was Obama's supposed lack of aggressiveness instead of Romney's litany of flip-flops and lies. An out-of-control media freak out took place about Obama's calm demeanor rather than any effort to highlight Romney's blatant falsehoods.