There's a long piece in Media Matters by Jamison Foser that takes a hard look at the double-standard in the media with respect to how progressives (vs. regressives? ok "conservatives," have it your way) are covered. Lots of it is familiar territory-- obsessive coverage of Clinton genitalia, Gore and Kerry getting a hard time while Dubya pretty much gets a free ride. Well worth a read. The piece ends with what I perceived to be a kind of call to arms, declaring that this kind of coverage "can't go on."
Over on This Modern World, Jonathan Schwarz saw this had had this little rant:
First of all, the corporate media has ALWAYS employed this double-standard, not simply "for years." And of course it can go on. What would stop it?
Of all the things that drive me crazy about my progressive compatriots, it's this belief that you can change the corporate media with accurate criticism of it. They believe at some point the people within the media will realize they're wrong, and their behavior will improve.
This is insane. The corporate media is the way it is because it exists to make as much money as possible. It doesn’t exist to give people an accurate picture of the world. It doesn't exist to provide jobs for honest journalists. Or rare occasions it will do both. But mostly it won't, because the need to make as much money as possible usually conflicts with everything good.
Waiting for this to change is like waiting for Santa Claus to bring us presents. But Santa Claus won't ever bring us presents, because THERE IS NO SANTA CLAUS.
Fine, so there's no Santa Clause...unless my niece reads this in which case yes there is a Santa Claus, and pay no attention to the crazy man. However, if there's no magical solution to solving the problem of media bias, that doesn't mean that there is no solution at all. In fact Jonathan hints at one element of what could force some change in the media. If corporate media is the way it is because it exists to make money, then one way to combat them is to reduce the amount of money they make. In that sense I think Jonathan is misunderstanding the target audience of Jamison's article, which is less the media itself than consumers of media. This kind of counterpoint is critical if we're going to get it through to folks that the story they're getting is warped. As this sinks in, people will turn to alternate news sources, and that (among other things) will prod corporate media into changing their ways.
Posted by Jason at May 27, 2006 04:22 PM