Posted on 11/13/2015 8:07:18 AM PST by markomalley
The New York Times' Timothy Egan thinks popular conservative commentators such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity wrecked both the Republican Party and democracy at large.
In his latest column, Egan wrote that "real reporters" have suffered a blow from both liberals and conservatives who have targeted the mainstream press as an enemy. He cited this week's incident at the University of Missouri where a communications professor attempted to block a student reporter from covering a protest in a public place. But Egan specifically took exception with the conservative media.
"The true media elites are in talk radio and right-wing television — multimillionaire gasbags from Rush Limbaugh to Sean Hannity," Egan wrote. "Every day, nearly every hour, they attack reporters, using verbal assaults more consequential than the muscle play by an amped-up academic."
He continued, "Conservative media deserve credit for going after the un-American censoriousness on college campuses. But elsewhere, in promulgating a create-your-own-facts media world, they've made a mess of our democracy. ... The main reason that Republican politicians sound so crazy of late is because they get their information, and validation, from the twisted world of partisan media outlets."
Conservative commentators and news outlets have been accused before of "impeding" the Republican Party.
In July, Times reporter Jackie Calmes published a study asserting a large discontent within the GOP directed at conservative broadcasters and bloggers who wield immense influence within the party.
"Once allied with but now increasingly hostile to the Republican hierarchy, conservative media is shaping the party's agenda in ways that are impeding Republicans' ability to govern and to win presidential elections," Calmes wrote in a paper published by the Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy.
Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott was interviewed for the study, and said conservative media acts as a cudgel against elected Republicans who show any willingness to compromise with Democrats or veer from accepted conservative dogma on low taxes, less regulation and more confrontation.
"If you stray the slightest from the far Right, you get hit by the conservative media," Lott said, according to the study.
Sean Hannity did not return a request for comment from the Washington Examiner media desk. A spokesman for Rush Limbaugh declined to comment.
We’ve made a mess of the Uniparty.
Woo hoo!
Freedom of speech is always such a bother to the elites.
Ah.
Constitutional governance is “crazy” and “twisted”
Got it.
because a compromise of rational moral principles is a victory for evil
I wonder which definition of democracy he is using?
That is the funniest statement ever!
What? It wasn’t a joke? Oh dear...
Hey Timmy f u.
Dear “Timothy Egan”: Your philosophy is bankrupt and you are manning a sinking ship.
Because no one should ever disagree with majority media opinion. Not in a democracy.
Journalists should be required to take a course in The Constitution before they get their degree.
The beatings will continue until morale improves..
“The main reason that Republican politicians sound so crazy of late is because they get their information, and validation, from the twisted world of partisan media outlets.”
You mean “twisted partisan media outlets” like, NY Times, Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, Time, on and on and on?
The Two Party System Jumped the Shark
Manning?
I read the article hoping to see ways the conservative media has been harmful. Nothing there. “Not compromising with Democrats” is too vague.
NYT Comedy Columnist
Way back in the middle of the last century.
In essence what this ghoul from America’s so-called paper of record is saying is that words have made a mess of their policy. Words from the very same dictionary they use, but applied according to another lexicon have destroyed their precious grasp of Democracy. Imagine that. Words have defeated them. Words. Just words. Even when they are masters of delusion and illusion by creating their own words that convey a multitude of sins (e.g., micro-aggression, white privilege, and so forth) they have been defeated by words from another side. Imagine that. Being afraid of words.
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