The reason I hate cable news is that they make a mockery out of very important issues and reduce some of our most important debates to be accessible to 3rd grade level intellects. I was perturbed by this issue as we went into the 2004 election but currently the situation has gotten out of control. First a little back ground. According to conservatives there is a great liberal bias in the media, now this may be true among rank and file news reporters, but it is not true of the big shots of cable news. In fact as with many things what passes as liberalism and conservatism is a strange amalgamation perpetuated by thoughtless zealots on both sides. However when it comes to cable news what is worse is that the anchor has become a position that is made up mostly of ego, hubris, spin focused through the lens of self importance more than it is about the news or finding an answer.
A few examples: Chris Matthews on Hardball. He portrays his background as a liberal because he worked for Tip O’Neal (which doesn’t show me liberal credentials, but I digress) but constantly spins the news in pro-Republican formats. For instance, he is the main person pushing the idea that the Republicans speak with one voice but he does not know how the Democrats think. This of course overlooks the fact that somewhere over the past 15 years blind allegiance to a party at the expense of ones personal judgment went from being a bad thing to a good thing. Also this is the same man who referred to Bush’s post September 11th speech on multiple occasions as “arguably the best speech by any President Ever.” Now why this has not gotten him disqualified as a newscaster I will never know.
Another example is Tim Russert on Meet the Press. He is supposedly known for getting politicians when they come on his show with misstatements and inconsistencies but somehow this never quite happens to Republicans. When Obama was on the show, he pressed Obama with multiple quotes about the inability of John Kerry to win the Presidential nomination. He found quotes from random anti-war rallies to try and tie up Obama who was at the time running unopposed in
A final example that set me off is the general punditry which is aided by newscasters when they jump on a story. i.e. the Karl Rove not getting indicted issue. First off, the Grand Jury expires so you have to indict on what you can to keep the case open. What they had was Scooter Libby. However, it kills me to hear news people argue that they know the White House planted stories in the paper to make the background for war, and they know they make a practice of destroying their enemies, and they know the White house is a tightly run ship of cronies, however since only Libby got indicted, for some reason Libby panicked and lied to protect something that what not illegal. Huh? First off, for people who understand Fitzgerald this is how he works. If he can’t get the truth because he thinks you are lying, he will indict you, and prosecute you until either you fall on the sword or he gets the information that he wants. Remember former Illinois Governor George Ryan has been investigated since 2001 and he just got indicted last year after aid upon aid had been indicted to find his way to the information that he wanted. What is not evident and should not be reported as a pure fact through is that the investigation was basically a waste and the White house is vindicated. Much less that the people should not ask any questions about a White house that has been outed as fraudulently creating so much news: whether it is the social security town hall meetings, video conference calls with the troops, post Hurricane briefings, or planted news reports. It is all swept under the cover as business as usual and the American people get disillusioned about the importance of politics to the point that even an illegal war is looked at as inevitable. It kind of makes you wonder what has to happen to wake us up…
(to be continued)
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