News Cut: September 9, 2008 Archive

Shooting the messenger

Posted at 12:18 PM on September 9, 2008 by Bob Collins (13 Comments)
Filed under: Media

Call it a bounce, call it the inaccuracy of polling, but more than a few Barack Obama supporters are sweating bullets now that polls are showing that the Republicans aren't just going to hand the White House over.

Somebody must be blamed. Former Saturday Night Live writer Adam McKay has found just the suspect -- the press.

What is this house advantage the Republicans have? It's the press. There is no more fourth estate. Wait, hold on...I'm not going down some esoteric path with theories on the deregulation of the media and corporate bias and CNN versus Fox...I mean it: there is no more functioning press in this country. And without a real press the corporate and religious Republicans can lie all they want and get away with it. And that's the 51% advantage.

Think this is some opinion being wryly posited to titillate other bloggers and inspire dialogue with Tucker Carlson or Gore Vidal? **** that. Four corporations own all the TV channels. All of them. If they don't get ratings they get canceled or fired. All news is about sex, blame and anger, and fear. Exposing lies about amounts of money taken from lobbyists and votes cast for the agenda of the last eight years does not rate. The end.

Blink. Blink.

Enter the wayback machine. Let's dial in last Wednesday evening. Destination: St. Paul.

"But here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion - I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country. Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reasons, and not just to mingle with the right people."

That was Sarah Palin, of course, rescuing the good ship McCain.

And it worked, according to the Rasmussen polling firm:

... fully 68% of voters believe that "most reporters try to help the candidate they want to win." And -- no surprise -- 49% of those surveyed believe reporters are backing Barack Obama, while just 14% think the media is in the tank for Sen. McCain.

Conservative commentator James Pinkerton see the same reality in the evils of the media, that his ideological opponent -- McKay -- sees:

In seeking to rally a majority of the voters, McCain has put forth a clear definition of the elite: It's the media, including all those who make up the "chattering class" of commentators, think tankers, opinion leaders, and activist socialites. This is a significant shift for McCain, who once cultivated those same chatterers; as recently as three years ago, he could joke that the press was "my base." But over the past few years, he seems to have figured that being the liberals' favorite conservative--appearing on the cover of Esquire magazine, guest-hosting "Saturday Night Live"--was fun, but that was no path to the White House.

In a story today, Time Magazine says a review of press coverage of the two candidates found 31% of the stories about Obama rated as "negative," only slightly less than the 38% described as negative about McCain.

A quote in that story from a GOP strategist, however, is worth noting:

"Attack the media is what you do when you're losing."

If both camps are laying into the press, who's winning?