PHILADELPHIA- Any observer of political convention coverage would have noticed once again this week that it seems there's no way for the Republicans to win with the press. Their every move comes with a certain damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't curse. When the GOP does nothing obvious to underline their minority outreach, they're broadsided by the press as the exclusive party of plutocratic pale males. When they do make an effort to present a palette of many colors, they are condemned for pandering. When they invite casual citizens into the convention with gimmicks like classroom speeches, or when they offer gospel choirs for... continue reading
Here in this sports-mad town, where passionate fans are used to the heartbreak of losing teams, we can find an appropriate metaphor for the quadrennial clash of network newsies and Republican conventioneers. Having Rather, Jennings, and Brokaw present your alleged "infomercial" to the country is like having an Eagles football game broadcast by the New York Giants booster club. No matter what city the Grand Old Party chooses to inhabit, they are never the home team in the hearts of broadcasters. In 1984, media scholar William Adams constructed an empirical measuring stick for network convention coverage. That year and in... continue reading
In a recent online discussion, Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz acknowledged that the national media present a liberal media bias on abortion, homosexuality, and religion, but emphasized: "The idea that most reporters are Democratic activists who slant their stories to help the party was always bogus." Perhaps. Perhaps all these left-leaning journalists are just unanimously, unconsciously prejudicing readers in an utterly uncoordinated wave of "socially responsible" spin control, absent any whiff of party politics. No matter: the end result is political. We've seen how reporters like to label conservative groups as conservative or extremely conservative ("hard right," "far right,"... continue reading
The most common media hit on George Bush the Elder after his 1988 campaign was the claim that he won by scaring whites about blacks, and the GOP used "code words" to achieve a dirty victory. So it wasn't altogether surprising when George Bush the Sequel accepted an invitation to speak at the convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Liberal media types were easily mollified, with big stars like Dan Rather touting how Bush was running much smarter than Bob Dole, who was punished by the media for rejecting the NAACP invitation as a "setup."... continue reading
The Boston Globe has been known for many years as one of the most obnoxiously liberal newspapers in America. How liberal? In 1995, the Globe ran a front-page story by reporter Anthony Flint which declared that in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing, the New Hampshire state motto "Live free or die" and Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty or give me death" confirmed that "the United States is a nation founded in rebellion and riddled with mottos, slogans and images grounded in battle and aggression." In fact, "a growing number of academics say, some homegrown terrorists and killers may... continue reading
So radio talker Rush Limbaugh didn't get the ABC "Monday Night Football" job, and comedian Dennis Miller did. If the network shied away from Limbaugh because his political outspokenness might be too controversial, then it shouldn't have hired Miller, either. Limbaugh is widely and accurately viewed as a true-blue Reagan conservative; Miller is widely and inaccurately viewed as a sardonic, plague-on-both-your-houses impartial critic. True, he's no Democratic toady; otherwise, he wouldn't have called Hillary Clinton a "craven careerist," as he did in early June. But there's not an impartial bone in his body, either. The simple fact is that Miller... continue reading
After years of blue-sky media celebration over the wonderful Clinton-Gore economy, a dark cloud appeared this summer. The dramatic increases in gasoline prices, particularly in Milwaukee and Chicago, threatened to puncture the balloon. What caused the explosion in gas prices? There for anyone to see who cared to look were Big Government's - i.e., the Clinton administration's - fingerprints all over this mess. Yet somehow, somehow the liberal press managed to miss it. When the gasoline price crisis broke in early June, the networks all suggested one cause could be the Environmental Protection Agency and its new clean air regulations... continue reading
It looks like CBS has officially sanctioned anti-religious bigotry on its network. Last Thursday on the CBS "Early Show," host Bryant Gumbel was conducting his standard interview with a conservative guest, which is to say that he was brawling. The subject was the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the Boy Scouts' ban on homosexual scoutmasters. The guest - which is to say: target - was the Family Research Council's Robert Knight, who had the audacity to defend the morality behind the decision. Naturally, Gumbel was openly hostile to anything Knight had to say, which is not surprising given that he's... continue reading
Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana was promoted during his prime-time appearance at the podium of the 1996 Democratic convention as a rising star. He was young, attractive, energetic - kind of like that Republican vice-presidential nominee from Indiana, Dan Quayle. But don't count on him to be Al Gore's running mate. That's because, as the late Democratic Governor Bob Casey explained in his book "Fighting for Life,"despite the presence of pro-life Democrats, "Often it seemed like the Democratic National Committee had become little more than an auxiliary of NARAL," the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. To paraphrase Lloyd... continue reading
Most movie heartthrobs don't provoke controversy. Oh, there's plenty many of them will do to outrage the public. Alec Baldwin on national television during the impeachment trial, calling for the death by stoning of Henry Hyde, is a pretty good example of that. What I mean is that they won't do anything to offend the sensibilities of a far more important market - Hollywood. Mel Gibson is an exception, perhaps the exception. Any actor who remarks, "Feminists don't like me and I don't like them. I don't get their point," clearly has no use for Tinseltown conventional wisdom. But there's... continue reading