To Neil Cavuto: This Is Why Obama Hates You So Much

Posted by on June 16, 2009 at 5:33 pm. 4 Comments :

Today on “Your World with Neil Cavuto”, the show’s host spent several minutes whining about the scant attention he feels he is getting from Barack Obama and his administration. Cavuto performed a set piece that complained that Obama had made himself available to other networks and programs, but not his.

“Now, I have to be honest, he’s been everywhere else today to talk about health care today, seemingly with anyone with a pulse today. Just not here. Just not with me.”

You can almost hear him choking back the tears. He attempted to insert some comedy by way of jokes about Obama appearing with SpongeBob SquarePants before sitting down with Fox News. However, the humor was exceedingly distasteful as it appeared to cast Obama as something that SpongeBob stepped in and tried to wipe off of his shoe (seriously). And if this prepared lament was not enough, he brought it up repeatedly throughout the remainder of the show while interviewing other guests. The core of his concern was stated thusly:

“Why do you hate us so much, Mr. President? Because we challenge you or because we won’t worship you? Or both?”

This is nothing new for Cavuto. He frequently takes to mocking Obama and other Democrats because he feels neglected. He has recently been attacking the administration for not making the various issue “czars” available for Fox-applied abuse. In the course of these complaints he ridicules both the position and the person holding it. He boldly expresses his disapproval of Obama’s affinity for czars and that there are any czars appointed in the first place. Perhaps he should be informed that George Bush had at least a dozen czars of his own. (And can we please retire the title “czar” in favor of something like Manager or Auditor?)

If Cavuto thinks that derision and insults will lure subjects into his lair, he is going to be sorely disappointed. In fact, it is that very behavior that is likely responsible for the cold shoulder he is presently experiencing. Here is what Obama had to say on the subject in an interview today with John Harwood of CNBC:

“I’ve got one television station that is entirely devoted to attacking my administration…That’s a pretty big megaphone. You’d be hard pressed if you watched the entire day to find a positive story about me on that front.”

If Obama didn’t have a reason to snub Fox before (which he did), Cavuto has certainly given him one. It is probably not a good idea to callously offend people that you want to interview. And if there is one thing we can learn
from this, it is that avoiding Fox News is really pissing off Fox News. This is one of the most effective actions that any Democrat or progressive can take in the battle to reform the media and to punish propaganda mills like Fox.

Let them whine. Let them display silly little countdown clocks (as Chris Wallace did during last year’s campaign). Let them escalate their rudeness and incivility. That will only make it all the more apparent that they are a deliberately hostile harbor into which we ought not sail. Simply put…

Stay the HELL off of Fox News!

Update 6/17/2009: Cavuto spent the first eight minutes of his program today whining that Obama would not cave in to his ego. That’s about 18% of his airtime.

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Michael Moore’s Campaign To Save Our CEOs

Posted by on June 15, 2009 at 3:19 pm. NO Comments :

This past weekend, a few lucky moviegoers were treated to a preview of what to expect when Michael Moore’s new movie is released in October. The short trailer consisted only of Moore making a personal plea on the behalf of the troubled corporations and executives who have suffered so much in this economic downturn:

“The downturn in the economy has hurt many people, people who have had no choice but to go on government assistance. Yet our welfare agencies can only do so much. That’s why I’m asking you to reach into your pockets right now and lend a hand. Ushers will be coming down the aisles to collect your donations for Citibank, Bank of America, AIG, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and a host of other needy banks and corporations. Won’t you please give generously?”

Those familiar with Moore’s work would be safe to assume that this project will contain a fair measure of disdain directed at greedy industrialists and ineffectual politicians. He is likely to highlight the hypocrisy of partisan rhetoric that condemns government intrusion into contracts that protect executive bonuses, but advocates for such intrusion to break contracts that benefit unions and workers.

However, the tone of this documentary, based on the trailer, appears to be deeply critical of corporate bailouts and government spending. Sound familiar? That is the principle theme upon which the Tea Parties held earlier this year were based. It is the issue that supposedly motivated thousands of “non-partisan” protesters to “spontaneously” gather in parking lots across America with tea bags dangling from their hats. Will those same people be filling seats in theaters to see a movie that addresses the same concerns?

What I’m really wondering, however, is whether Fox News will turn the debut of this movie into a major news event, as they did with the FNC Tea Party Day. Will they promote it for weeks prior to the opening? Will Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity be dispatched to metropolitan cineplexes to cover the premiere – LIVE – and for the full hour of their programs? Isn’t this precisely the issue that they claimed had captured the hearts and minds of a nation that was screaming out for reform? And wasn’t that the pretense for their wall-to-wall coverage of the Tea Partiers?

I’ll go on record right now – more than three months before the release – to predict that more people will attend the opening night of this movie than attended the Tea Parties nationwide. That’s just the opening night. Wouldn’t that make this event at least as representative of the public mood as the Tea Parties were said to be? Wouldn’t that suggest that it deserves at least as much attention from Fox News and the rest of the media? And remember, the Tea Parties were free. People will have to pay to see Moore’s film. Isn’t that an even greater expression of support?

Somehow, I’m not expecting Beck to be preening on a specially erected festival stage outside an Alamo movie house on October 2, with Ted Nugent on lead guitar. More likely he and his Fox cohorts will bash the film and its director in an attempt to preempt the message and its impact. And, of course, they will then continue to insist, through it all, that they don’t regard this as a partisan issue.


Did Fox News Capitulate To Scientology?

Posted by on June 14, 2009 at 1:30 pm. 6 Comments :

Last April, Fox News entertainment reporter, Roger Friedman, was fired, allegedly because he had acquired and viewed a bootleg copy of 20th Century Fox’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” At the time it appeared a rather harsh sentence considering that Fox has no problem with continuing to employ people who…

  • …joke about assassinating Barack Obama (Liz Trotta).
  • …read Republican Party press releases on the air as if they were actually news (Jon Scott).
  • …express a desire to strangle competing reporters (Bill O’Reilly).
  • …yearn to choke Michael Moore to death (Glenn Beck).

I also wondered whether Fox might have been itching for an excuse to cast Friedman overboard due to his blasphemous praise of Fox nemesis Michael Moore:

On Fahrenheit 9/11: “It turns out to be a really brilliant piece of work, and a film that members of all political parties should see without fail.” He continued, “…a tribute to patriotism, to the American sense of duty – and at the same time an indictment of stupidity and avarice.”

On Sicko: “Filmmaker Michael Moore’s brilliant and uplifting new documentary, ‘Sicko,’ deals with the failings of the U.S. healthcare system, both real and perceived. But this time around, the controversial documentarian seems to be letting the subject matter do the talking, and in the process shows a new maturity.”

Now the New York Daily News is reporting that Friedman is suing Fox News for wrongful termination, and the reason is something I had not anticipated. He is claiming that Rupert Murdoch and News Corp bowed to pressure from Kelly Preston and Tom Cruise who wanted Friedman fired because he had written critically of Scientology. At first, that seems to be a frivolous assertion, but upon further examination it becomes more plausible.

The Scientology organization has a reputation for being fiercely aggressive when it believes that it has been disparaged. And Friedman did indeed write multiple columns that were less than complimentary to Scientology. For example: Television Star Exits Scientology and Will Scientology Celebs Sign ‘Spiritual’ Contract? and Isaac Hayes’ History With Scientology. And there were others that touched on big stars like Will Smith and Tom Cruise.

I can’t pretend to know the truth about Friedman’s claim. Fox may have already had it in for him due to the Wolverine episode or his acclaim for Moore’s movies. All I can say is that, if Scientology really has Fox cowering before it, I wish Bill O’Reilly or Glenn Beck would say something to piss them off. Now that’s entertainment.


Re: Joan Walsh On Bill O’Reilly: I Told You So!

Posted by on June 12, 2009 at 10:25 pm. 31 Comments :

Earlier today I warned Salon editor Joan Walsh against appearing on the O’Reilly Factor to discuss the controversy surrounding the murdered abortion provider, Dr. George Tiller. I argued that there was no possible upside because Bill O’Reilly would just turn the interview into a shoutfest wherein O’Reilly would seek only to harangue and ridicule.

Guess what?

This was a pathetic display of bullying by an ignorant, dishonest, and obsessed man. O’Reilly deftly validated my long-held position that no Democrat or progressive should EVER appear on Fox News. O’Reilly loaded the segment with quotes and video clips to which Walsh had no prior access and could not reasonably respond with any authority. She, however, had no opportunity to do likewise, or even to respond to his questions. When he wasn’t hollering at her, saying that “You have blood on your hands,” he was bellowing at her to “Stop talking!” That is the natural state of an O’Reilly interview. It is a format in which he excels, but others can be made to look foolish. So even though Walsh has been an effective and articulate presence on other TV programs, it was easily predictable that she would be jostled and beaten here. Walsh herself seems to agree with me after the fact:

“If I’m sorry I did the show — and I’m not yet sure I am — it’s only because of one thing: He used me to try Dr. Tiller again, postmortem.” […] “I’m a little embarrassed because they make me look like a liberal Pollyanna, a lamb ready to lie down with the lion — to be eaten! Live and learn.” […] “Epic fail! What was I thinking?”

You ought to be sorry, Joan. But you’re right, he did use you. He used you to attack everyone who believes that private, personal medical decisions should be between the patient and the doctor. He used you to bash everyone with liberal values that are rooted in free choice and freedom from groups or governments that seek to impose their moral standards on you. He used you to validate himself and to reinforce the falsehood that he and Fox News are “fair and balanced.”

You should be embarrassed, too. And I hope that you have learned. I hope others can learn from your unfortunate experience. The deck is stacked against anyone who wanders into that lair. It has nothing to do with your debating skills or subject knowledge. It is fixed from the outset. O’Reilly is, as you said, “driven by demons.”

I simply cannot say this enough: Stay the HELL off of Fox News. The only thing they care about is ginning up the rage and hyping the resultant conflict. Just take a look at how they are already promoting the Walsh episode just hours after it was taped:

Notice they proudly plug the flaring tempers in part one. And, worse, part two is pitched as “O’Reilly’s Dr. Tiller shoot-out.” Remember, this is about a man who was just shot to death. This is all you need to know about Fox News and how they will gleefully exploit you in the most repulsive manner imaginable.

[Update – 6/21/09] Joan Walsh wrote another followup to her O’Reilly misadventure. She seems to have learned her lesson.

“I didn’t expect to go into a debate on late-term abortion, or the details of Dr. Tiller’s practice. I was asked to discuss my reasons for criticizing O’Reilly’s crusade against Tiller, and why I hoped he would turn down his rhetoric. I was sandbagged, but that’s the O’Reilly game plan.” […] “I should have been prepared for him to hit me again Monday, when I couldn’t defend myself, with selective re-editing that took out my criticism of him and made me look evasive and/or stupid.”

I can’t imagine why she didn’t expect to be sandbagged and ridiculed. She should have read what I wrote before her appearance. I predicted precisely what would take place. I just hope that others will learn from her mistake. When you go on Fox News you are abandoning the world of responsible media and volunteering to be victimized by unscrupulous practitioners of self-righteousness and deceit. Just say no!


Joan Walsh Falling Into Bill O’Reilly’s Trap

Posted by on June 12, 2009 at 12:15 pm. 1 Comments :

[Note: See my post-broadcast update here}

Yesterday on Hardball, Salon editor Joan Walsh quite correctly called right-wing media to task for being provocateurs who openly engage in inflammatory rhetoric that paranoid, racist, lunatics feed upon. She said:

“When Bill O‘Reilly goes on TV every night and calls Dr. Tiller a baby killer and a Nazi and a Mengele, and shows where he works, why do we put up with that? Why is that entertainment in our culture? It‘s demonizing a private citizen for doing a lawful job? Why are people doing that? Why is that acceptable?”

Why, indeed? Why are these people given platforms to spew such thinly veiled rationalizations of violence and hatred? Why are their baseless rants regarded as acceptable in the discourse of controversial issues? Why are their words not associated with the all too predictable consequences wrought by the entranced disciples who congregate on the ledge of sanity? And why do otherwise reasonable editors persist in lending their credibility to these media malignancies, as Joan Walsh has agreed to do?

After her remarks on Hardball, O’Reilly invited her to appear on his program to debate the issue. She inexplicably accepted. It is beyond ridiculous for her to agree to participate in what will surely be a manipulated exercise in justifying O’Reilly’s incitations and massaging his bloated ego. What can she possibly hope to accomplish? She won’t change his mind or those of his brainwash followers…er…viewers.

I have previously documented the multitude of reasons why all Democrats and progressives should refuse to appear on Fox News (Starve The Beast parts One, Two, and Three). O’Reilly, in particular, is well known for bullying his “guests” and for using his editorial control to dismiss and humiliate them. He isn’t interested in winning an argument on its merits when he can just shout you down and exploit the resulting chaos to enhance his ratings. Here is a simple primer for an encounter with O’Reilly:

The O’Reilly Interview 101
Ask direct yes or no questions where one answer is clearly reprehensible and the other is totally meaningless, and bully your guest into responding.
“Do you want the U.S. to lose in Iraq? Well, do you?”

Create an association with an unpopular (preferably mischaracterized) opinion with the broadest attribution possible.
“Do you agree with Harry Belafonte, and the rest of the liberal establishment, that Venezuela should take over America?”

Never concede on substance, even if your arguments are demonstrably false.
“Saddam Hussein did too meet with Osama Bin Laden at Michael Moore’s compound in Libya – Twice.”

Employ ad hominims liberally.
“Why should anyone listen to a radical, Kool-Aid drinking, far-left loon like you?”

Shout louder than your guests and interrupt frequently, especially when they are making a good point.

Walsh is making a mistake by sucking up to this demagogue and she should seriously consider canceling the appearance. She is not merely placing herself in a position where she will be disparaged and diminished, she is creating an opportunity for O’Reilly to project his venom on everyone with whom she presumes to represent. She is willfully doing harm to all of us who are fighting so fiercely against the sort on poisonous rhetoric that O’Reilly dispenses on a daily basis.

It’s not too late to tell Walsh to back out of the booking. She asked for advise on her Twitter stream. Let’s give her some. And you can speak out at her blog as well.

Update: Well, after the taping, Walsh blogged about the experience. It wasn’t pretty.

Even though she has already gone through with it, we can still let her know that it was a mistake.


Glenn Beck’s Fear Mongering In The Wake Of Tragedy

Posted by on June 11, 2009 at 12:38 am. 5 Comments :

Stephen Tyrone Johns, a security guard at the Washington D.C. Holocaust Memorial was shot and killed by James W. von Brunn today. This was a blatantly racist act by an obsessed and demented, militant rightist who was driven by irrational hatred and fear. And in the wake of yet another tragic shooting – the third in less than two weeks – Glenn Beck proves that he is insensitive, inhumane, and incredibly ill-informed.

Despite the fact that von Brunn is obviously a racist, right-wing, NRA radical, Beck opened his program with a passionate defense of the very sort of conservatism that spawned von Brunn. Beck’s analysis began with the contention that there will be a witch hunt in this country that will come after two groups: First, the Jews. Second, conservatives.

That’s right, Beck actually believes that conservatives are going to be second only to Jews as targets for violent, domestic extremists. And he bolsters this dangerously deranged theory with affirmations straight out of The Idiot’s Guide To Race Wars. His bizarre thesis included the following examples of his madness:

“The pot in America is boiling and this is just yet another warning.”
Beck claims that he is not the one stirring the pot, that he is just the messenger. But that’s a difficult case for him to make when he is standing over the pot with a giant ladle.

“How did it happen that you look at people who are Nazis and you say that those are right wing. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Beck’s confusion can only come from his utter stupidity as he and his guests desperately try to tie Nazis to leftists in a feat of historical revisionism that defies comprehension. They actually believe that Nazis and Communists conspired to define each other as opposites so as to crowd out all other ideologies. They must work overtime to make up this crap.

“America, we are surrounded by people who want to control you. You’ve got the government, that is, I think, is just going crazy out of control.”
Oh no. We’re surrounded again. I thought Beck and his tea parties were surrounding them now. Nevertheless, notice how Beck isn’t stirring the pot with his talk of a government that is crazy out of control.

“We’ve got a guy in office right now, President Obama – and before everybody else…nobody else is…I don’t think anybody else is gonna bring this up today – Oh dare anyone in the media actually say this – We’ve got a guy in the White House right now, who if you’re gonna link people to this guy, who have nothing to do with this shooting, let’s talk about the relationship with Barack Obama and Rev. Jeremiah Wright.”
Now he is just babbling. But in his rant is evidence of his paranoid fear of an alien president, his persecution as the only one who sees what’s going on and will speak out, and his craving for a decoy, a scapegoat, upon which he can direct his anger and that of his followers.

“I think the Germans, however, were an awful lot like we are now. We’re kind of living in denial like ‘I don’t know, that can’t really be happening.’ You don’t want to believe some things but you have to.”
Don’t you see, America? You have to believe what he tells you, whether you like it or not. Beck is not only describing Americans as being like the pre-WWII Germans, he is praying for it.

At the conclusion of this screed, Beck commenced a tale of his own family outing to the D.C. Holocaust Memorial. He related a harrowing experience wherein he and his family were trapped in the building as a bomb threat ensued. The ordeal left him with a wish for future Museum visitors:

“I will tell you, I wish everyone could experience the Holocaust Museum like that, because it sure made it real and put it into perspective.”

Now, I know that he probably meant that the frightening risk to his life enhanced the sense of fear that the victims of the Nazis must have felt. But in his clumsy articulation, what he actually said was that he wished that there were more bomb threats so that everyone who visits the Museum would experience one. It is that sort of clumsiness that infects much of what Beck says. The problem is that not all of it is clumsiness. Too much of what Beck says is deliberately provocative.

It’s hard not to associate events like today’s shooting with Beck’s fear mongering and disaster mania. I don’t generally subscribe to the theory that TV personalities are responsible for the actions of lone lunatics, but I do think that they have an obligation to exhibit some empathy and not to further fan the flames. In his case, Beck seems to revel in standing over embers and waving furiously.

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Krauthammer: Fox News Created An Alternate Reality

Posted by on June 10, 2009 at 1:28 pm. 3 Comments :

The Eric Breindel Award for Excellence in Opinion Journalism is a creation of Rupert Murdoch, who endowed the foundation that administers it. How convenient then, that this year’s honoree is Fox News favorite, Charles Krauthammer.

Krauthammer is an unrepentant defender of torture, war, and the conservative economic model dedicated to excusing the rich and fleecing the poor. Thus, he is an obvious choice for an award bestowed by News Corporation to one of their own. I wonder what Sean Hannity would have to say about an award created by General Electric that was presented to Keith Olbermann.

In his acceptance speech, Krauthammer graciously praised the heads of News Corp. and Fox News who are, of course, also his bosses:

“I said some years ago that the genius of Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes was to have discovered a niche market in American broadcasting — half the American people.”

There is little doubt that Murdoch and Ailes are adept at marketing (i.e. propaganda) and that their enterprise serves a niche market (i.e. dittoheads). However, to say that it is half of the American people is evidence that Krauthammer must have failed remedial math. There are about 360 million Americans and Fox’s audience rarely exceeds 3 or 4 million. Krauthammer seems to regard 1% and 50% as essentially the same. But that isn’t even the point at which he truly sails over the edge of his flat earth. For that he had to exhibit a bit more honesty:

“What Fox did is not just create a venue for alternative opinion. It created an alternate reality.”

Can’t argue with that. Fox News creates an alternate reality on a daily basis. They misrepresent the statements of Democrats and progressives. They edit videos to produce false and negative impressions. Studies show that Fox viewers rank lower with regard to knowledge of current events and, even worse, are far more likely to believe things that are demonstrably false.

It’s a good thing that Fox invents their own awards because they aren’t going to be winning any from reputable institutions.


Lying Is Easy, Comedy Is Hard

Posted by on June 9, 2009 at 3:20 pm. NO Comments :

Anyone who has ever tried to make an audience laugh knows how deceptively easy a talented comic can make their job look. The truth is, it is so difficult to do well that there is a famous (but difficult to source) quote reportedly made from an actor’s deathbed: “Dying is easy, comedy is hard.”

It’s going to get a lot harder for people like Jon Stewart. The competition is heating up with some of the most hilarious, and unexpected, entrants into the field of funny. Republicans from around the country are trying out their best material in an effort to amuse and deceive audiences nationwide.

First up is Republican National Committee Chairman, Michael Steele, who cracked up a room of College Republicans with his famous “Hat” routine. The premise is that it doesn’t matter how you wear your hat (to the side, backwards, etc) so long as it is a GOP hat:

I’m asking you to go out and ask your friends to wear our hat. The hat of an idea.

For this bit, Steele had four students stand so that he could pretend to put imaginary hats on them. Steele intuitively knew that the bit would be much funnier with audience members standing there for no purpose other than to grin and display their naked heads. And I have to admire the deeper meaning of the invisible hats of ideas that obviously represent the GOP’s absence ideas.

The setup included a dire admonition that Barack Obama “has asked your generation to wear his hat.” I must have missed that speech. But I did see Steele’s previous speech where he promised to deliver “change in a tea bag.” How does he keep coming up with this brilliant material?

And then there is Bill O’Reilly. In a sidesplitting debate over torture and abortion, O’Reilly challenged Juan Williams to explain why liberals object to torture but defend abortion providers like Dr. George Tiller. Williams attempted, through O’Reilly’s interruptions, to answer saying that torture is against both domestic and international law, but Tiller’s work was entirely legal. To which O’Reilly responded:

“You can dance the law dance all day long. And laws are passed by men. Laws can be revoked. They can be passed.”

The joke, as O’Reilly sees it, is the law itself. It’s just a dance and we don’t really need to comply with it because it’s just stuff that some people came up with in legislatures and courtrooms. Just imagine the comical scenarios that would ensue if we extend O’Reilly’s view of the law to burglary, rape, and terrorism. I can see O’Reilly now, defending Osama Bin Laden before a military tribunal, doing a jig while testifying that he can “dance the law dance all day long.” After all, the laws against flying planes into buildings could be revoked.

Almost as funny as his legal pirouettes is his contention that “the attorney general ruled waterboarding was not torture. It was legal.” As if the attorney general has the judicial standing to make such a ruling. He isn’t a judge. The best he can offer is an opinion, and you would think that O’Reilly has enough of those of his own. And to compound the laugh factor, O’Reilly seems perfectly satisfied to accept the constraints of the law (as he misinterprets it) with regard to waterboarding, even though he dismisses the law as it applies to abortion. Who’s dancing now?

This brings us to Newt Gingrich who made this declaration last night:

“Let me be clear. I am not a citizen of the world!”

I’m going to guess Plutonian, because he is just so out there, stretching the comedy envelope. He is objecting to a part of Obama’s speech wherein he referred to himself as “a citizen of the world.” I wonder if Gingrich knows that John F. Kennedy, George H. W. Bush, and even Ronald Reagan used the very same phrase. Gingrich also mined comedy gold by railing against the “fact” that our nation’s school curriculum doesn’t include American history. Makes you wonder how closely he was paying attention.

It’s going to be hard for working comics and satirists to compete with the new Republican Rubber Chicken Society. Not many people are better at spinning lies…er…stories than desperate Republican politicians and pundits. It may be too much to ask our professional laugh-smiths to create humor from scratch when the GOP can just pull it out of their butts. I mean, how can you compete with headlines like:
“Fox Newser Accused of Dragging Cyclist Through Central Park.” And:
“Peter Doocy [Steve’s boy] Joins Fox News.” And:
“Sarah Palin Mystifies and Annoys the Republican Establishment.”
“Coburn’s STD Lecture to Congressional Interns Put On Hold Due to Pizza Dispute.”

Yes, those are real. And so is the danger that reality will make comedians obsolete. Thanks GOP.


Rupert Murdoch Defends The Fairness Of Fox News

Posted by on June 9, 2009 at 1:14 pm. 2 Comments :

Neil Cavuto went out on limb to interview his boss, Rupert Murdoch, again. I don’t know of any other network that conducts this type of incestuous self-promotion with such frequency. But we are talking about Fox News, so…..

In this clip Murdoch defends the notoriously false slogan that Fox News is “fair and balanced.” Murdoch says:

“If we weren’t fair and balanced, we wouldn’t have the number one network in news – by a very wide margin. People believe we’re fair and balanced, and they love us.”

However, people do not watch Fox News because they believe it’s fair and balanced. They watch to have their right-wing preconceptions validated. What’s more, many more people hate Fox News than love it. Twenty-three percent of the public report being regular Fox viewers. That means that 75% are not. And being the number one network is no measure of quality. As I have said before:

“McDonald’s is the #1 restaurant in America. I don’t think that anyone interprets that to mean that they have the best food. What they have is the cheapest crap that is loaded with filler and seasoning to appeal to the largest number of consumers with the least sophisticated taste.”

And that’s a pretty good description of Fox News too.


Rothenberg Dunks Hardball

Posted by on June 8, 2009 at 2:44 am. 4 Comments :

Stuart Rothenberg is the very model of a modern major political pundit. He has his own newsletter and contributes to Roll Call, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and is a regular commentator on television news programs. He has a reputation as an astute analyst. Which makes me wonder why it took him so long to come to this realization:

“America’s cable ‘news’ networks have concluded – on the basis of considerable research and evidence, I’m sure – that most viewers don’t want straight news and analysis as much as they want to hear what they already think or to watch predictable partisan attacks.

“The three big cable ‘news’ networks don’t exist to provide a public service, after all. They have corporate officers and stockholders to answer to, which means they need more and more eyeballs to generate more advertising dollars.

“Their answer: talk radio on TV. Forget about the serious implications and political fallout that follow an event or policy, and instead attack your opponents repeatedly using half-truths, glittering generalities and inapplicable analogies.”

With that, Rothernberg announced that he will no longer be a guest on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews. Very little of what Rothenberg says should surprise anyone who has been paying attention. So either he is not as astute as he pretends to be, or he just preferred picking up his paycheck and indulging in denial. Rothenberg complains that Hardball has evolved into “a partisan, heavily ideological sledgehammer” and he is upset that Matthews made reference to some Republicans as crackpots. But that seems like a pretty petty reason to pound on a news culture that has plenty of legitimate flaws.

I’m not sure what his objection is to the crackpot remark. With characters like Michele “Let’s investigate Congress for Socialists” Bachmann, and Michael “It’s a Hip-Hop GOP, Baby” Steele, crackpot seems like a rather reserved assessment. And as for being a partisan sledgehammer, I can’t think of any other program that regularly hosts the disgraced former Republican leader, Tom DeLay, and treats him with such deference and respect.

Rothenberg’s assertion that viewers aren’t interested in straight news is really a form of attacking the victim. There is surely a segment of the market that prefers to only hear those things that validate their preconceptions, but part of the problem is that they haven’t been given a real choice in the first place. If the audience currently has no place to find neutral reporting, how can we conclude that they would not watch it if it were available? The truth is that viewers are drawn to programming that provides either information or drama. Since there is presently no compelling source of informational programming, viewers are stuck with the dramatic variety.

Rothenberg’s observation that the media has abandoned public service in favor of profit is irrefutable, but hardly a revelation. And while he describes the corporate response to conditions in the marketplace (talk radio on TV), he doesn’t bother to offer any suggestions for reversing the trend and restoring a commitment to quality and public service in cable studios and newsrooms. He seems to lack the courage to declare that it is the iron grip of the monolithic media conglomerates that is responsible for the greed-driven state of today’s news providers.

While Rothenberg comes down pretty hard on Hardball, he says that Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, and Ed Schultz, are even worse. To his credit, he attempts to seek some balance by making a couple of obvious, yet still notable (for a mainstream pundit) comments about the Fox News all-stars, including…

“O’Reilly’s obsession with General Electric and that company’s CEO is bizarre, though any program that treats Dick Morris seriously as an independent analyst obviously has major problems.”

So Rothenberg’s epiphany has led him to eschew Hardball for good. He doesn’t say whether he will do likewise for the rest of the cable asylum. That would certainly make a dent in his wallet. However, he does suggest that his fellow pundits reconsider their own fraternization with the compromised world of cable news. He regards it as a matter of integrity in the name of journalistic ethics and says that…

“Trying to be an unbiased reporter or neutral analyst on a heavily biased television program is incredibly awkward and uncomfortable. Either you end up fighting the host’s premises and rephrasing loaded questions, or you are tacitly accepting the way the host defines a situation, making yourself an accomplice to a political mugging.”

That’s about the truest thing I have ever heard a member of the political mugging class admit to. On one hand, I admire Rothenberg’s honest appraisal, though I still can’t imagine what took him so long to arrive at it. On the other hand, he isn’t exactly an innocent bystander. He’s more like the stoolie who’s giving up his pals to save his own skin. Time will tell whether this is a genuine revelation or merely a tantrum for some perceived slight in the Hardball green room – or retaliation for Matthews calling his Republican buddiess crackpots.