“Balance” as a Cudgel
Blaming PBS Won’t Save Right-Wingers From Their Own Disasters
Pity the poor conservatives. They’re having ever so much trouble getting their message across, thanks to the Big Bad Liberal Media.
Yep, the fact that Fox News, CNN and an array of right-wing commentators drill their talking points into millions of heads 24/7 scarcely makes a dent. The consolidation of news media into the hands of a few big G.O.P. benefactors makes little difference. The packaging of Republican “stories” under false pretenses (and paid for by tax dollars) has yielded no results. The fact that a complacent news corps, desperate for access, has capitulated to the President’s strategy of only answering pre-screened questions has had no impact, and neither has his relentless schedule of rigged “town halls” filled with unquestioning boosters (and policed by dissent-silencing goons, also funded by the public).
What’s the left-wing juggernaut silencing these tiny efforts at conservative expression? Why, public television, of course.
I was surprised to learn that PBS, home to sonatas and science programming and “Sesame Street,” had such massive rhetorical power. I was under the impression that hardly anyone watched it.
But conservatives are very hurt that some anti-Bush opinions are being voiced – and not shouted down – on PBS stations. And tax dollars are paying for it! The G.O.P.-approved Chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Kenneth Tomlinson, has announced plans to head off this dangerous left-wing bias.
The right only wants balance, you see. And anyone who’s watched the G.O.P. and its various paid operatives in action can see how important balance is to them.
They want to “balance” scrutiny of administration policy with pro-Bush cheerleading. They want to “balance” discussions of science with religious dogma. They want to “balance” investigations of unfounded war-mongering with attacks on questioners’ patriotism and “balance” concerns about the economy, constitutional precedent and the environment by telling those concerned to shut the hell up.
Let’s face reality, though this is an unfashionable construction in politics these days. The G.O.P. has a fearsome arsenal of persuasion at its disposal, not to mention the bully pulpits of the Presidency and Congress. Why would the right wing fear a few talking heads on PBS?
Because despite the endless, ubiquitous babble of Republican talking points – and the lazy acceptance of their slanted framing of every question by a harried, cowed and consolidated mass-media machine, the propaganda isn’t working like it used to.
Look at Bush’s miserable approval ratings, not to mention the crashing failure of the President’s social security plan and public distrust of Sen. Frist’s nefarious attempts to banish the filibuster. While you’re at it, check out the overall unease Americans feel about the economy and their own security.
In fact, a surprising number of people looking at the administration’s activities don’t see an Emperor in gold-threaded robes. They see a lot of naked lies.
Why aren’t those defensive, implausible talking points making them feel better? Why don’t people find a refusal to answer questions reassuring? Who on earth wants politicians to take responsibility for their own screw-ups, or even own up to what they said yesterday?
Blame it on the liberal media.
Amazingly, mass-media journalism itself – once given to such liberal habits as asking questions and refusing to serve as a PR outlet for authority figures – is so terrified of this particular “L” word that it will scuttle obediently into a thicket of nonsense rather than stand its ground.
Indeed, the American press once got to the bottom of a festering political scandal and toppled a corrupt presidency. Once, U.S. journalists brought home the horror of an ill-advised war and helped drag it to an end.
But this once-powerful instrument of the public interest has been neutered; it’s as though Superman, accused of throwing his weight around too much, agreed to wear kryptonite around his neck while Lex Luthor robbed Fort Knox.
PBS is hardly Superman. It’s merely a handy symbol for all the little pockets of resistance the G.O.P. is desperate to “balance” to death. But replacing some anti-establishment commentators with pro-Bush clones won’t change the fact that the Emperor has no clothes.
Pity the poor conservatives. They’re having ever so much trouble getting their message across, thanks to the Big Bad Liberal Media.
Yep, the fact that Fox News, CNN and an array of right-wing commentators drill their talking points into millions of heads 24/7 scarcely makes a dent. The consolidation of news media into the hands of a few big G.O.P. benefactors makes little difference. The packaging of Republican “stories” under false pretenses (and paid for by tax dollars) has yielded no results. The fact that a complacent news corps, desperate for access, has capitulated to the President’s strategy of only answering pre-screened questions has had no impact, and neither has his relentless schedule of rigged “town halls” filled with unquestioning boosters (and policed by dissent-silencing goons, also funded by the public).
What’s the left-wing juggernaut silencing these tiny efforts at conservative expression? Why, public television, of course.
I was surprised to learn that PBS, home to sonatas and science programming and “Sesame Street,” had such massive rhetorical power. I was under the impression that hardly anyone watched it.
But conservatives are very hurt that some anti-Bush opinions are being voiced – and not shouted down – on PBS stations. And tax dollars are paying for it! The G.O.P.-approved Chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Kenneth Tomlinson, has announced plans to head off this dangerous left-wing bias.
The right only wants balance, you see. And anyone who’s watched the G.O.P. and its various paid operatives in action can see how important balance is to them.
They want to “balance” scrutiny of administration policy with pro-Bush cheerleading. They want to “balance” discussions of science with religious dogma. They want to “balance” investigations of unfounded war-mongering with attacks on questioners’ patriotism and “balance” concerns about the economy, constitutional precedent and the environment by telling those concerned to shut the hell up.
Let’s face reality, though this is an unfashionable construction in politics these days. The G.O.P. has a fearsome arsenal of persuasion at its disposal, not to mention the bully pulpits of the Presidency and Congress. Why would the right wing fear a few talking heads on PBS?
Because despite the endless, ubiquitous babble of Republican talking points – and the lazy acceptance of their slanted framing of every question by a harried, cowed and consolidated mass-media machine, the propaganda isn’t working like it used to.
Look at Bush’s miserable approval ratings, not to mention the crashing failure of the President’s social security plan and public distrust of Sen. Frist’s nefarious attempts to banish the filibuster. While you’re at it, check out the overall unease Americans feel about the economy and their own security.
In fact, a surprising number of people looking at the administration’s activities don’t see an Emperor in gold-threaded robes. They see a lot of naked lies.
Why aren’t those defensive, implausible talking points making them feel better? Why don’t people find a refusal to answer questions reassuring? Who on earth wants politicians to take responsibility for their own screw-ups, or even own up to what they said yesterday?
Blame it on the liberal media.
Amazingly, mass-media journalism itself – once given to such liberal habits as asking questions and refusing to serve as a PR outlet for authority figures – is so terrified of this particular “L” word that it will scuttle obediently into a thicket of nonsense rather than stand its ground.
Indeed, the American press once got to the bottom of a festering political scandal and toppled a corrupt presidency. Once, U.S. journalists brought home the horror of an ill-advised war and helped drag it to an end.
But this once-powerful instrument of the public interest has been neutered; it’s as though Superman, accused of throwing his weight around too much, agreed to wear kryptonite around his neck while Lex Luthor robbed Fort Knox.
PBS is hardly Superman. It’s merely a handy symbol for all the little pockets of resistance the G.O.P. is desperate to “balance” to death. But replacing some anti-establishment commentators with pro-Bush clones won’t change the fact that the Emperor has no clothes.
posted by Simon Glickman at 6:21 PM
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