Kabuki Democracy by Eric; Alterman

Author:Eric; Alterman [Alterman, Eric;]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub
Publisher: Nation Books
Published: 2010-12-15T04:30:00+00:00

WHAT LIBERAL MEDIA?

Conservatives complain and complain about alleged liberal domination of the media and yet continue to enjoy kid-glove treatment in their most influential forums. Take a look at the guest lists, for instance, for the six most influential Sunday news programs for the first sixteen months of the Obama presidency. According to one careful study, between January 2009 and April 2010 “six Sunday television talk shows [were] dominated by men, whites and Republicans, particularly right-wing Republicans, with a geographical bias for the East and Midwest. This was true of the guests, reporters and pundits.” The bias is partially establishment driven. Bookers and producers demonstrate a weakness for the safe, predictable, and familiar. “The folks at Politico appear multiple times but nobody from TPM. You hear from the Washington Examiner, but nothing from the Washington Independent.” During this sixteen-month period, “one independent Senator, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, made nine appearances, while the other independent, Bernie Sanders, made a single appearance.” The top invitees among politicians were Republican Mitch McConnell (twenty-five appearances), Republican John McCain (twenty-one), Republican John Kyl (eighteen), Republican Lindsey Graham (eighteen), and Republican Mike Huckabee (thirteen), who tied with the top Democrat, Charles Schumer. Newt Gingrich, who doesn’t even have a current position in government, came in next, with twelve appearances. Among pundits, Fox’s Juan Williams (fifty-six), Bill Kristol (fifty-six), and Mara Liasson (fifty-one) led the way, followed by ABC’s conservative George Will (forty-four), Brit Hume (twenty-eight), and another Foxite and New York Times conservative David Brooks (twenty). The first liberal to make it into the mix was the New York Times’s Paul Krugman (sixteen). A similar tilt can be found among the guests on PBS’s nightly Newshour broadcast between centrist establishment and firebrand conservative voices, leaving liberals out in the cold. According to a study published by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, the Newshour’s guest list during a two-month period spanning May and June 2010 contained think tank sources from right-leaning groups (at least 50 percent). “With just four sources (13 percent), left-leaning think tanks were outnumbered by right-leaning ones 4 to 1.”

The continued fealty of mainstream institutions to conservatives and the purveyors of Washington conventional wisdom has important consequences for the Obama administration’s ability to focus public debate. To give one slight example of why this matters, at the end of 2009, federal officials arrested the so-called underpants bomber en route to the United States, where he sought, with considerable incompetence, to blow up a passenger airliner. Recall that when the so-called shoe bomber got past security in late December 2001, the Bush White House simply clammed up, and the media (and the Democrats) were happy to go along. The president did not mention the shoe bomber at all until a press conference six days after the incident took place. Meanwhile, after the shenanigans of Mr. Underpants, Barack Obama issued three public statements and announced two security reviews and a directive on how to try to correct the problem. So what did we hear? “In the

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