Bill Bennett: "Wither The Mainstream Media?"

Real Clear Politics ^ | 12/6/2004 | William Bennett

[macbee]

Wither The Mainstream Media?
By William Bennett

In many ways—especially from the views of Blackrock, 30 Rock, and Times Square —President George W. Bush should not have been re-elected: the economy was in less than stellar shape; images of terrorism and death from Iraq flooded the news coverage; civilians were being kidnapped and beheaded; President Bush did not acquit himself well in the presidential debates; and Osama bin Laden gave us a long-awaited (and, in some cases, long-unexpected) proof-of-life days before the election. And, yet, instead of George W. Bush packing up his office this December and January, Dan Rather announced that he will be packing up his, Tom Brokaw has delivered his last broadcast, and the New York Times is, well, one wonders….

What happened? Many things, from the values of rural Kansas proving more widespread than the values of urban Massachusetts, to the precedent that presidents are not voted out of office during war-time. But there is something more, and it has to do with the continuing decline of the mainstream media that has been taking place concomitantly with the rise of a new media; a media that is not confined to one specific headquarters or address, a media that—while more diverse in race, gender, religion, and politics than the mainstream headquarters’ personnel—shares the common address suffixes dot com, dot org, dot net and AM. the Internet combined with talk-radio...

[macbee]

Bill Bennett has some very interesting points to make about the MSM, the pajamahideen, talk radio, and the new form of political discourse which is coming into existence, where "the lecture is fading, and it is being replaced by the interactive national seminar, where callers inform the host and audience as much as the host is informing listeners..."

"Hat Tip" (as they say) to Powerline.

[mainepatsfan]

If not for the new media the Swift Vets wouldn't have gotten their message out and Dan Rather would have gotten away with his journalistic fraud.

[Vision Thing]

With the political failure of the Dems and their lapdog mainstream media, I cannot help thinking that we are witnessing the fall of our very own Berlin Wall here in the United States.

To complete the fall of this wall, the educational system --- from the public schools to the universities --- needs a complete disinfection. Education is the final brick in our Berlin Wall, and we must tear it down!

[Boundless]

Another brick fell out of the wall yesterday ...

Fox Will Become Main News Source For Clear Channel
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1295419/posts

The big losers: ABC, CBS

The Clear Channel press release is at:
http://www.clearchannel.com/Radio/PressReleases/2004/20041206_Fox.pdf

[Chu Gary]

Bill Benett is one very insightful guy and this is just one more great opinion article.

[Chu Gary]

Bill Benett is one very insightful guy and this is just one more great opinion article.

[Bonaparte]

"In the end, it is a very American thing."

It sure is.

George Caleb Bingham, The Verdict of the People. Larger image here.