Another point to be made here is that sadly, the media hyping CRT for the GOP does more damage than simply putting the Democrats on the defensive. While CRT is not being taught in pre college grades, it should be. Apparently we can't have an adult conversation that leads to our children growing up knowing the real truth behind our nations dark history. What changes in American life would happen if children understand the real truth regarding slavery and white privilege? Will the shopping malls close? Will President's Day auto sales cease? Perhaps our country would grow as it did for the German people where the history of Nazi fascism is still taught so that it never happens again. It's a topic that the media should have taken seriously and should not have been weaponized for the purpose of helping the Republicans. The "liberal press", indeed.
Ted Cruz, among other Republicans, insisted that if Joe Biden won the election on November 3rd, starting November 4th there would be no more news coverage of Covid. That proves the GOP's belief that media coverage is SUPPOSED to be dictated by political talking points, AND that even with hospitals and morgues being swamped, Cruz and his ilk still did not take Covid seriously.
Come on, Eric, Politico's Ryan Lizza told us what was wrong with the left's criticism of the media coverage—most notably when it involves the GOP threat to democracy (and extends to everything else):
"If Democratic candidates aren’t talking about America’s anti-democratic movement, and if President JOE BIDEN, Speaker NANCY PELOSI and Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER aren’t doing it every day in Washington, then the coverage will reflect that. That is not a defense of the political-media ecosystem but just a description of it."
So now I get it. If only Joe, Nancy, Chuck and the rest of the Dems would shut up about inflation, bad poll numbers, immigrant caravans, CRT, Afganistan withdrawal "disaster," Benghazi, etc etc etc the press would stop covering those topics. Gosh, it's all the Dems' fault!
I saw red while reading this bullshit several days ago. In this same short piece, he and his cowriter also reveal that the media didn't take Trump and the GOP's threat to try to overturn the the election seriously because it was the "Keystone Coup" and they then shamelessly added, the GOP just got "tired of correcting Trump's lies" and "others joined them." I guess meaning members of the press. (My brain still hurts over that line.)
Lizza also quotes the NYT's David Leonhardt, who downplays what's happening because some bills giving GOP partisan control of elections failed—ergo "the anti-democracy movement may not succeed." Also, because Dem Govs don't see the threat to democracy as a winning message (Gee, I wonder why?) the media won't talk about the threat either. Got it now?
What that short piece in Morning Playbook revealed is that our criticisms of the political press are dead on: they ARE the Beltway secretarial pool—stenographers who dutifully take down political messaging—NOT reporters. The one thing they left out is that these reporters actually ignore Dems' voices, regardless of what the message is about. We hear about all these nonissues because it's what the GOP are yammering about—and what the GOP say is all the Beltway press cares about. Kinda why the only voice on the 1/6 committee that seems to get consistent coverage is Liz Cheney.
This is journalistic malpractice. How do these people have jobs, including (and especially) Leonhardt?
The beltway press has allowed, if not promoted a reality in this country where way less than half of republicans believe Joe Biden is actually president, three quarters of them believe Covid is no worse than the flu and too many won't get vaccinated, screamers disrupting school board meetings get more attention than the Jan 6 committee's work and a shocking number of 'adults' seem to think their right to ignore masking and distancing protocols is somehow protected in the Constitution. Never mind all the voter fraud lies. Yikes! Seems to me we need a new model for the press to aspire to.
One thing I've come to recognize is that the press see Republican talking points as worthy of covering while those coming from Democrats are seen as laughable or to be ignored.
I keep asking over and over... What the hell is wrong with these people and organizations? If they are complicit in a neo-fascist takeover of this country, which is looking more and more likely, don't they realize they will be among the first in the gulags? Fools! Utter fools!
The GOP pushes voters' buttons, even the racist ones. They find the so-called social issues are effective in winning elections because they are a party devoid of truly useful ideas and policies. I remember my first experience as a voter was when they told us not to vote for the Equal Rights Amendment because it meant public restrooms would be shared by both sexes. When I was a little girl I was forced to pray in school because heck, it was the south, and not coincidentally, the schools were segregated and when that was ruled unconstitutional, my parents and all my friends' parents enrolled us in a different school where there no black kids. I knew the word "segregated" when I was 6 years old. It's probably the biggest reason why I loathe the GOP. They save the bad parts of human nature for use in winning elections, then drop them afterwards. Now their thing is abortion rights, and the anticipated SC ruling that will kill Rowe v Wade will be decided this summer, just in time for the midterms. And I'm sure the media will play along.
I’m so old that I remember the exact same scenario in 2014: Ebola was an existential health crisis (it wasn’t) and Obama was failing in his response (he didn’t); next week was an election and the next day the story died. Just crickets.
Which is why I keep banging the drum on mainstream media complicity. The harm to the nation from cannot be underestimated. More: without that complicity, the GOO would be far weaker and less dominant than it is.
As for the Murdoch piece, I have to disagree with Eric. Nothing good there, just >1%er with a project that will lead nowhere. What she’s opposing is what those in power want and are implementing. Like way too much from liberals and Democrats, it’s just talk that will lead to absolutely nothing. Better she should put the money into a scammy NFT, say, than in producing dishonest false hopes.
Back at my home town the Republicans got control of the school board and what was the first thing on their agenda? Yep, banning CRT. Second, Teachers must take loyalty oaths...
I'm wondering how many of you saw George Will's horrifically racist op-ed in the WashPost this morning where he trashes the 1619 project as "feeding radicalism." I was so angered by it that I fired off a letter to their useless editor. I still can't get that piece out of my mind.
As non-American on this forum, it's been both a revelation & disappointment to find out how horribly bad the mainstream media cover politics in your country.
For years, I thought the mainstream media in my country, specifically the early evening newscasts, print tabloids, and radio shows were bad at covering political news because they preferred sensationalism & catering to the lowest common denominator over clear, concise, fact-based & sober reporting of the issues.
I didn't expect the American mainstream media to be just as bad, or even worse than what I've seen in my country. It's worse in the sense that they've got a double standard when covering Democrats & Republicans.
It's particularly more noticeable in the Biden administration than in previous Democratic administrations that there's too much focus on negative coverage while either downplaying or ignoring the GOP's far-right shift towards authoritarianism.
Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with those people? Have they somehow lost their conscience because they're too focused on their paychecks over holding the rich & powerful accountable?
CRT truth is stranger than fiction. While the media continue to be frustrating, I can’t help but notice that Republicans are flipping out over the information the Jan. 6th Committee has released so far. It’s not even drip, drip, drip - someone left the faucet on. The media can continue to downplay it but House Republicans seem to get it: people are going to jail. Did anyone see Neal Katyal on MSNBC yesterday? He basically said that Louis Gohmert is an “insane kook” who makes Mark Meadows look like a statesman. Fun stuff. (We were a “Christmas With Coniff” and any Frank Sinatra holiday album kind of family.)
The press are nothing but glorified stenographers for the GOP. Eric Alterman pegged it well in his terrific book "What Liberal Media? The Truth About Bias And The News." The media are about as liberal as the John Birch Society.
The main problem as I see it is that the GOP fights asymmetrically, and we have never figured out how to respond or do that ourselves, because we are always so concerned with hurting people's feelings or strictly adhering to processes.
In essence, the GOP are like Mike Tyson in the Tyson Holyfield bout where Tyson was eventually disqualified for biting Holyfield's ears. Disqualification for ear biting is not listed in the Marquess of Queensberry rules which serve as the basis for boxing, so it didn't occur to the referee to disqualify him the first time he did it. But then when he bit the second ear, he was left with no choice. The media are supposed to be the referee, only they're really not interested in anything other than the continuation of the fight.
That is why there will be no disqualification of the GOP for peddling bullshit about CRT (or anything else). The Democrats need to learn that there is only way to address asymmetric behavior in a boxing match where there is no referee and your opponent bites off a piece of your ear, and that is to get asymmetric ourselves.
It's time for us to pack our gloves with brass knuckles and punch our opponents in the nuts. And when they claim that you're not fighting fair (as the po' wittel snowflakes will inevitably do), show the media the piece of your ear on the floor and punch them in the nuts again.
First, I couldn't resist emailing The Times reporter who did a good job on the Delaware judge upholding Dominion's ability to sue Fux Noise and saying a great story would be why reporters don't treat those at Fux Noise on the same beat as the propagandists they are. The other great Eric of press criticism has some thoughts on this today, too.
Second, the video is a reminder of what I call the Crosby Christmas Rule: If he was the first to record the Christmas song, it should not be re-rerecorded. I apply this to "White Christmas" and "Do You Hear What I Hear," which isn't really a Christmas song but has come to be associated with the holiday.
Another point to be made here is that sadly, the media hyping CRT for the GOP does more damage than simply putting the Democrats on the defensive. While CRT is not being taught in pre college grades, it should be. Apparently we can't have an adult conversation that leads to our children growing up knowing the real truth behind our nations dark history. What changes in American life would happen if children understand the real truth regarding slavery and white privilege? Will the shopping malls close? Will President's Day auto sales cease? Perhaps our country would grow as it did for the German people where the history of Nazi fascism is still taught so that it never happens again. It's a topic that the media should have taken seriously and should not have been weaponized for the purpose of helping the Republicans. The "liberal press", indeed.
Ted Cruz, among other Republicans, insisted that if Joe Biden won the election on November 3rd, starting November 4th there would be no more news coverage of Covid. That proves the GOP's belief that media coverage is SUPPOSED to be dictated by political talking points, AND that even with hospitals and morgues being swamped, Cruz and his ilk still did not take Covid seriously.
Come on, Eric, Politico's Ryan Lizza told us what was wrong with the left's criticism of the media coverage—most notably when it involves the GOP threat to democracy (and extends to everything else):
"If Democratic candidates aren’t talking about America’s anti-democratic movement, and if President JOE BIDEN, Speaker NANCY PELOSI and Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER aren’t doing it every day in Washington, then the coverage will reflect that. That is not a defense of the political-media ecosystem but just a description of it."
So now I get it. If only Joe, Nancy, Chuck and the rest of the Dems would shut up about inflation, bad poll numbers, immigrant caravans, CRT, Afganistan withdrawal "disaster," Benghazi, etc etc etc the press would stop covering those topics. Gosh, it's all the Dems' fault!
I saw red while reading this bullshit several days ago. In this same short piece, he and his cowriter also reveal that the media didn't take Trump and the GOP's threat to try to overturn the the election seriously because it was the "Keystone Coup" and they then shamelessly added, the GOP just got "tired of correcting Trump's lies" and "others joined them." I guess meaning members of the press. (My brain still hurts over that line.)
Lizza also quotes the NYT's David Leonhardt, who downplays what's happening because some bills giving GOP partisan control of elections failed—ergo "the anti-democracy movement may not succeed." Also, because Dem Govs don't see the threat to democracy as a winning message (Gee, I wonder why?) the media won't talk about the threat either. Got it now?
What that short piece in Morning Playbook revealed is that our criticisms of the political press are dead on: they ARE the Beltway secretarial pool—stenographers who dutifully take down political messaging—NOT reporters. The one thing they left out is that these reporters actually ignore Dems' voices, regardless of what the message is about. We hear about all these nonissues because it's what the GOP are yammering about—and what the GOP say is all the Beltway press cares about. Kinda why the only voice on the 1/6 committee that seems to get consistent coverage is Liz Cheney.
This is journalistic malpractice. How do these people have jobs, including (and especially) Leonhardt?
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2021/12/14/what-the-left-doesnt-get-about-the-media-495453
The beltway press has allowed, if not promoted a reality in this country where way less than half of republicans believe Joe Biden is actually president, three quarters of them believe Covid is no worse than the flu and too many won't get vaccinated, screamers disrupting school board meetings get more attention than the Jan 6 committee's work and a shocking number of 'adults' seem to think their right to ignore masking and distancing protocols is somehow protected in the Constitution. Never mind all the voter fraud lies. Yikes! Seems to me we need a new model for the press to aspire to.
One thing I've come to recognize is that the press see Republican talking points as worthy of covering while those coming from Democrats are seen as laughable or to be ignored.
But the crisis at the border…..
I keep asking over and over... What the hell is wrong with these people and organizations? If they are complicit in a neo-fascist takeover of this country, which is looking more and more likely, don't they realize they will be among the first in the gulags? Fools! Utter fools!
The GOP pushes voters' buttons, even the racist ones. They find the so-called social issues are effective in winning elections because they are a party devoid of truly useful ideas and policies. I remember my first experience as a voter was when they told us not to vote for the Equal Rights Amendment because it meant public restrooms would be shared by both sexes. When I was a little girl I was forced to pray in school because heck, it was the south, and not coincidentally, the schools were segregated and when that was ruled unconstitutional, my parents and all my friends' parents enrolled us in a different school where there no black kids. I knew the word "segregated" when I was 6 years old. It's probably the biggest reason why I loathe the GOP. They save the bad parts of human nature for use in winning elections, then drop them afterwards. Now their thing is abortion rights, and the anticipated SC ruling that will kill Rowe v Wade will be decided this summer, just in time for the midterms. And I'm sure the media will play along.
I’m so old that I remember the exact same scenario in 2014: Ebola was an existential health crisis (it wasn’t) and Obama was failing in his response (he didn’t); next week was an election and the next day the story died. Just crickets.
Which is why I keep banging the drum on mainstream media complicity. The harm to the nation from cannot be underestimated. More: without that complicity, the GOO would be far weaker and less dominant than it is.
As for the Murdoch piece, I have to disagree with Eric. Nothing good there, just >1%er with a project that will lead nowhere. What she’s opposing is what those in power want and are implementing. Like way too much from liberals and Democrats, it’s just talk that will lead to absolutely nothing. Better she should put the money into a scammy NFT, say, than in producing dishonest false hopes.
Don't worry, folks! CRT will soon be back.
Back at my home town the Republicans got control of the school board and what was the first thing on their agenda? Yep, banning CRT. Second, Teachers must take loyalty oaths...
I'm wondering how many of you saw George Will's horrifically racist op-ed in the WashPost this morning where he trashes the 1619 project as "feeding radicalism." I was so angered by it that I fired off a letter to their useless editor. I still can't get that piece out of my mind.
As non-American on this forum, it's been both a revelation & disappointment to find out how horribly bad the mainstream media cover politics in your country.
For years, I thought the mainstream media in my country, specifically the early evening newscasts, print tabloids, and radio shows were bad at covering political news because they preferred sensationalism & catering to the lowest common denominator over clear, concise, fact-based & sober reporting of the issues.
I didn't expect the American mainstream media to be just as bad, or even worse than what I've seen in my country. It's worse in the sense that they've got a double standard when covering Democrats & Republicans.
It's particularly more noticeable in the Biden administration than in previous Democratic administrations that there's too much focus on negative coverage while either downplaying or ignoring the GOP's far-right shift towards authoritarianism.
Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with those people? Have they somehow lost their conscience because they're too focused on their paychecks over holding the rich & powerful accountable?
CRT truth is stranger than fiction. While the media continue to be frustrating, I can’t help but notice that Republicans are flipping out over the information the Jan. 6th Committee has released so far. It’s not even drip, drip, drip - someone left the faucet on. The media can continue to downplay it but House Republicans seem to get it: people are going to jail. Did anyone see Neal Katyal on MSNBC yesterday? He basically said that Louis Gohmert is an “insane kook” who makes Mark Meadows look like a statesman. Fun stuff. (We were a “Christmas With Coniff” and any Frank Sinatra holiday album kind of family.)
Great Bing Crosby song, tho I’m still a White Christmas gal myself 🎶.
The press are nothing but glorified stenographers for the GOP. Eric Alterman pegged it well in his terrific book "What Liberal Media? The Truth About Bias And The News." The media are about as liberal as the John Birch Society.
The main problem as I see it is that the GOP fights asymmetrically, and we have never figured out how to respond or do that ourselves, because we are always so concerned with hurting people's feelings or strictly adhering to processes.
In essence, the GOP are like Mike Tyson in the Tyson Holyfield bout where Tyson was eventually disqualified for biting Holyfield's ears. Disqualification for ear biting is not listed in the Marquess of Queensberry rules which serve as the basis for boxing, so it didn't occur to the referee to disqualify him the first time he did it. But then when he bit the second ear, he was left with no choice. The media are supposed to be the referee, only they're really not interested in anything other than the continuation of the fight.
That is why there will be no disqualification of the GOP for peddling bullshit about CRT (or anything else). The Democrats need to learn that there is only way to address asymmetric behavior in a boxing match where there is no referee and your opponent bites off a piece of your ear, and that is to get asymmetric ourselves.
It's time for us to pack our gloves with brass knuckles and punch our opponents in the nuts. And when they claim that you're not fighting fair (as the po' wittel snowflakes will inevitably do), show the media the piece of your ear on the floor and punch them in the nuts again.
First, I couldn't resist emailing The Times reporter who did a good job on the Delaware judge upholding Dominion's ability to sue Fux Noise and saying a great story would be why reporters don't treat those at Fux Noise on the same beat as the propagandists they are. The other great Eric of press criticism has some thoughts on this today, too.
Second, the video is a reminder of what I call the Crosby Christmas Rule: If he was the first to record the Christmas song, it should not be re-rerecorded. I apply this to "White Christmas" and "Do You Hear What I Hear," which isn't really a Christmas song but has come to be associated with the holiday.