Wednesday, May 21, 2008

My rant against the media

I’m so sick of the mainstream media I could just burst. It seems like there’s virtually no major media outlet where we can get unbiased coverage of events anymore. The MSM has completely abandoned journalistic principles in favor of “what sells” or “what the corporate bigwig boss tell us to do.”

Even NPR, which is the only mass media outlet I listen to daily, has gone downhill.

Yesterday during “All Things Considered,” Melissa Block was discussing with a reporter the Clinton/Obama race, and they just couldn’t help but inject their own oversimplified and idiotic “analysis” into it. A reporter in Oregon claimed that if Clinton had gotten the kind of landslide victories she won in West Virginia earlier in the primary season, we'd have a different campaign now. To me, that makes it seem like the whole thing is about the MSM-supported idea of momentum and hype, instead of who has the best ideas and is the best candidate for the job. Now I know there are sheeple in this country who buy whatever spin and hype the MSM puts out there, rather than taking the time and trouble to do a little research on the candidates and make an informed decision, but the idea that it’s all about momentum or hype, that it's all dependent on the primary schedule and who wins big early, just pisses me off.

Then they continued to talk about how Obama will win in Oregon because of the "Starbucks democrats"--white, educated, and monied--while Clinton will win in Kentucky because of "Walmart democrats"--white, uneducated, “working class.” At this point I had to just turn the radio off. I hate the way the MSM oversimplifies and pigeonholes Clinton's (and Obama's, for that matter) base! If this is such an accurate analogy, just where do I fit in?
1. I support Hillary.
2. I been boycotting WalMart since 2002.
3. I am firmly rooted in the middle class, with a mid-level marketing job.
4. I'm hispanic.
I soooo hate the MSM's idiotic generalizations and the way they push for Clinton to drop out, instead of giving every state the opportunity to have a say. You'd think the media controlled the race, instead of us voters.

While I’m on my media-induced rant, get a load of this, from Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen:

That Clinton will lose this time is a foregone conclusion. That she deserves to
lose is a widely accepted opinion, strongly held by women as well as men, which,
you would think, should mute the growing chorus that Clinton is the victim of
vicious misogyny. Anyone who thinks this ought to scan the bookshelves for the
yards of anti-Hillary books written by women or read the op-ed pages, where
women go after Clinton without, to say the least, sisterly restraint.

Oh, I get it now! If any woman writes something that “goes after” another woman, then anything the men say just can’t be misogynist! Ass-wits like Maureen Dowd write stupid shit about Clinton, so we can just give all the men who've written misogynistic crap about Clinton a pass! It’s a good thing that smart men like Cohen are here to explain this stuff to women like me.

Fucking idiots.

9 comments:

Fran said...

What a great post Delia.

I do agree with you that the MSM sucks and really sucks ass big time on this one.

However, I still hold that while I think Obama has issues galore, I think Hillary has more issues.

This just may be the thing that you and I will agree to disagree on. I hope my post yesterday did not tick you off.

Peace my sister.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Franiliscious. Great post.

The mainstream and corporate media find it utterly necessary to simplify everything to the nth degree. It makes real political analysis and discourse virtually impossible.

And THAT serves their corporate overlords very, very well.

vikkitikkitavi said...

You are so right. But what gets me is that if Hillary hasn't lost because of misogyny, it somehow means she hasn't been a victim of it.

Life As I Know It Now said...

Rant on sister! If the woman reporter who was called sweetie by Obama answered him by saying "ok boy" The shit would just hit the fan and rightfully so but where is the outrage at how women are treated? It's ok to insult professional women doing their job by communicating that you just don't take them seriously because that is merely sexist which is not such a big deal huh? Does the media report the bias that HRC faces? No way because you know that's just not important. On Yahoo I click on a story entitled "Clinton wins Kentucky" but the story that comes up is "Obama closer to sewing up nomination" WTF! I backtrack to see if I've hit the wrong link but no. The MSM is just a bunch of fucktards here plain and simple. It comes down to this--Clinton bad, should drop out and Obama good, he has hope and youth. Is that simple enough for you?

Freida Bee said...

Wait, this happened to an even greater extreme with Dennis Kucinich early on. I am not sure it's exactly about sexism. He was winning tons of online polls and was the only one pushing for impeachment, universal healthcare, and ending the war yesterday, all professed political positions of the majority of democrats, and he was not allowed on debates, was not covered to have a chance months before anyone had ever voted. It was very similar to what you are saying about what's happening now with Hillary. I just saw this headline today, "Clinton continues campaign as attention wanders elsewhere". That is some serious disrespect and I do think the media is a big player here.

Matthew Hubbard said...

Don't sugar coat it, dg. Tell folks how you really feel.

Claire said...

Great post. I wonder how McCain would have been treated had he addressed a woman reporter as "sweetie". Of course I'll vote for Obama if he's the nominee, but there's been no outrage from the Democratic leadership about the misogynistic Hillary-hatred in the media, and that just demonstrates to me that sexism is still OK.

dguzman said...

Fran--thanks. I know both candidates have issues; I just like Hillary more and want a woman in the big House. Your post was fine; the fat lady IS probably singing, but I'd rather we determine that for ourselves, not have the media tell us what time it is. F them!

DCup--Corporate ownership of anything = suckage.

Vik--exactly! The MSM is so effing ready to vindicate themselves of any and all wrongdoing; they would never admit they're complete sellouts who just obey whoever signs their paychecks.

Liberality--no kidding. I asked that kind of question after the "iron my shirt" thing happened--if they'd shouted at Obama, "Shine my shoes," e.g., we'd all still be reading about it.

Freida--with Kucinich and with Edwards. The media just decided that neither one had "the right stuff" (whatever that is -- kiss-ass disease, Mr. McCain?) and just ignored them. Regular joes didn't get a chance to see them on TV every other second, so their candidacies just dried up. It makes me sick to think the media could ever control my vote, but they do -- in the sense that they denied me the chance to vote for Kucinich or Edwards. Bastards!

Matty Boy--"subtle" is not something I'm good at, most of the time. Probably because I'm one of those loud-mouthed dykes (just like Hillary!).

CDP--yes, sexism is okay, but of course racism is not! I wonder if we'll EVER get to the day when sexism is no longer acceptable. The way things are going, I'd say NO--which really bums me out.

Distributorcap said...

the media sucks
i know - i work in it
i see what goes on

there is ZERO objectivity -- it is all about theatre and getting more commercials for freecreditreport.com on the air

why bother to have an election -- let the media TELL US who won

fuck the media - especially chris matthews