Media and Politics

Pravda Newspaper
I totally agree with Jamison Foser from Media Matters when he (she?) writes:

The defining issue of our time is the media.

The dominant political force of our time is not Karl Rove or the Christian Right or Bill Clinton. It is not the ruthlessness or the tactical and strategic superiority of the Republicans, and it is not your favorite theory about what is wrong with the Democrats.

The dominant political force of our time is the media.

The media's role in getting us to the horrible place our nation now finds itself in is something that interests me greatly. Bush's trip to Iraq this week showed how excited the press gets about every little stunt the administration does. When the Soviet government wanted some good PR "Pravda" gave them the coverage they wanted- is our press much different?

Why?, is my big question. How can people in the media- obviously intelligent people go on and on everyday telling us black is white and white is black.

The worst example of this is the news "round table". A bunch of D.C. insiders- usually more conservatives than liberals all part of the same club basically patting each other on the back. A few weeks ago Katrina venden Huevel from the Nation was on ABC's This Week. She is a real progressive. Like all of us progressives she is angry and she wasn't afraid to show it. Not in a bitter inappropriate way- just like she took the crap the Bush administration is pulling seriously. The rest of the panel was shocked. Cookie Roberts and George Will kind of laughed uncomfortably and shook their heads- imagine- she actually got emotional when talking about people dying in New Orleans during Katrina! Obviously the press corps likes their bubble and intends to stay there.

Jamison Foster's series of articles on Media Matters is now four parts. Excellent.

I also am dying to read Eric Boelert's new book, Lapdogs. Atrios reports this morning that not enough people are buying it....