Why Media Doesn’t FeeltheBERN for Presidential Contender Bernie Sanders – It’s Complicated

[Playinghardball]

The only people who make more money from the establishment than politicians is the mainstream media who cover them … they don’t ever want to change it,” The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur tells TheWrap

Bernie Sanders is a soft-spoken former small-town mayor-turned-socialist agitator who’s been drawing big crowds — but that hasn’t equaled big coverage. The 73-year-old Vermont senator has been the surprise of the presidential campaign so far, attracting supporters by the thousands who are gravitating to his populist, anti-Wall-Street message.

“I think he’s being taken very seriously right now … people are talking about him and I think he has a lot of serious things to say that should be paid attention to,” Christopher Hahn, radio host and former aide to New York Senator Chuck Schumer told TheWrap.

But media attention on Sanders has been minuscule compared with that of Hillary Clinton — who’s been a fixture on the cable and broadcast networks since President Obama took his second oath of office — and Donald Trump, whose bombast makes him irresistible to news producers.

So why is a two-term Senator, former Congressman and Mayor who’s drawing the biggest crowds taking a backseat to Hillary and the Donald?

The difference between Barack Obama in ’07 and Bernie Sanders in ’15 is that somehow the establishment knew Obama was safe and he wasn’t going to bring real change to politics or the media, whereas they have a legitimate fear that Sanders means what he says and he would overturn their apple cart,” former MSNBC anchor and longtime host of popular progressive commentary show “The Young Turks” Cenk Uygur told TheWrap.

>snip<

Remember, the only people who make more money from the establishment than politicians is the mainstream media who cover them … This system made them rich — they don’t ever want to change it.”

More here: http://www.thewrap.com/why-media-doesnt-feelthebern-for-presidential-contender-bernie-sanders-its-complicated/

[merrily]

1. Yeah, all that, plus the fix has been in for a long time.

I like Cenk, but I don't buy that each member of media sits back and assesses each candidate and says, "Gee, this one might shake things up more than I want. This one won't shake anything up. This one is Goldilocks. Think I will back him/her." And then they magically all pick the same person.

Media is establishment and takes its cues from the establishment. There are leaks. There are backgrounders and briefings. There are all kinds of things that are, in fact, far more flat-footed than cues and hints and that never show up in print or as part of a broadcast.

Watch a Daily Show segment that shows a dozen broadcasters saying the same thing in the exact same words. That is no coincidence.

Though most of us are not privy to any of those things, everyone here who is awake and honest will agree that Hillary has, for years, clearly been the establishment's candidate for the 2016 Democratic nomination and Sanders is to get short shrift. So, media ignored him for as long as it reasonably could, much as it did Occupy Wall Street. Or there are articles that condescend, that snipe, that declare he will lose, etc.

Except for that one Juan Cole article, I have yet to see a single article that treats him simply as a serious candidate for the Presidency and sets forth his many sound accomplishments and down sides accordingly. He's always that odd, allegedly cranky, relic from the 1960s, and, more recently, that flash in pan that is destined to flame out horribly.

And, btw, it's not even media's job to decide who will shake things up too much for them or for America or just enough. It's media's job to provide us with the facts about all the candidates, or at least all that register on some relevant Richter scale. And Bernie certainly does that.

Fuck 'em.

[Enthusiast]

5. The media receives their orders from "On High". nt

[raouldukelives]

6. Nicely put. nt

[grasswire]

2. yes, this

" somehow the establishment knew Obama was safe and he wasn’t going to bring real change to politics or the media"

[n2doc]

3. Yep, it all comes down to money

Sanders won't play the Billionaire "saturate the airwaves" game, costing the media money, and He wants to tax the high rollers (who include all of those talking heads and many of the major reporters) more.

[KoKo]

4. ....!