Sunday, May 04, 2008
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What’s behind the media’s GOP fetish?
Media darling? Meghan McCain, daughter of GOP presidential candidate John McCain at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner on April 26.
CREDIT: Nancy Ostertag/Getty Images
By Arianna Huffington
It's a paradox: The political center has clearly shifted; what used to be considered "left wing" positions have now become part of the mainstream, and the views of the right are now at odds with the majority of the American public—and with reality.
Yet, despite this seismic shift—grossly underreported by the media—the right remains as powerful as ever when it comes to setting the national agenda and dominating the national debate.
Think about it: On Iraq and the exercise of American power, on economic fairness, on corporate responsibility, on the environment and climate change, on the universal right to healthcare, the progressive policies and positions long championed by the left have moved from union halls and MoveOn e-mails to the sidewalks, backyards and kitchen tables of Main Street, USA.
Nevertheless, the traditional media—and most politicians—continue to insist on looking at every issue through a right vs. left frame, then assume the answer is found by splitting the difference.
I've spent much of the last year trying to pinpoint the reasons for this startling disconnect in my new book, "Right is Wrong," which is being released this week.
And I concluded that there are three main areas to look at, not only to help us understand how we got in the mess we're in, but also to help us get out: the media, the role of fear in our politics, and the failure of political leadership.
These three factors have combined to allow the lunatic fringe that has taken over the right to hijack our country, our democracy and our Constitution. So that 28 percent of the population that continues to support George W. Bush—no matter how many bodies pile up in Iraq, how many jobs disappear overseas, how many "For Sale" signs go up on their block, or how high gas prices get—continues to dominate our politics.
The media remains hopelessly addicted to the false belief that in order to be fair and balanced every story needs to be given the "on the one hand . . . and on the other" treatment. But not every story has two sides—and the truth is often to be found not in the middle but solidly on one side or the other.
The earth is not flat. Global warming is a fact. Evolution is a fact—sorry Mike Huckabee. And not even Republicans still believe in the unfettered free market. Look how they rushed to Big Government to save their beloved Bear Sterns.
Nor are there two sides to the proposition that Iraq is our generation's greatest foreign policy disaster. It is. Period. Full stop. Yet the same media that enabled the administration to sell us the multitrillion-dollar war are—nearly six years later—still pushing the right's line that "the surge is working." Green Zone bombardments be damned.
Indeed, we are in the sixth year of an unnecessary and immoral war that has cost tens of thousands of lives, globally discredited the United States and has left us all less safe than the day Shock and Awe began. But the media are still debating the war's "progress," and describing the state of Iraq as "a mixed bag”—which is a little bit like going to the doctor, having him tell you that you have a brain tumor but your acne has cleared, and considering the diagnosis "a mixed bag."
What is behind the media's lapdog devotion to the messages and framing of the right? It's a combination of self-loathing and abject fear. The media wear their dread like a cheap aftershave. The broadcast networks and the cable news channels live in mortal fear of a dip in the ratings, and newspapers are constantly checking their pulse—convinced by their deteriorating profits and market share that the end is near. So they continue to offer the views of the newly marooned right more than equal time. SP