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NYT columnist: Conservative media 'has made a mess of our democracy'
Washington Examiner ^ | 11/13/15 | Eddie Scarry

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.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: dbm; elections; mediabias
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To: RJS1950

Amen!

Democracy is mob rule.


41 posted on 11/13/2015 8:48:28 AM PST by basil ( God bless the USA!)
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To: markomalley

just like a liberal- screw things up then blame others-


42 posted on 11/13/2015 8:58:41 AM PST by Bob434
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To: markomalley

What’s happening even this week on the campuses are a result of the liberals and how they think. but they can never see that their beliefs are a disaster. It has to always be someone else’s fault.


43 posted on 11/13/2015 9:01:18 AM PST by frnewsjunkie
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To: markomalley

Hard to believe a person can be that stupid.


44 posted on 11/13/2015 9:02:28 AM PST by mulligan (I)
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To: markomalley
I was a Dem many years ago. I used to believe dopes like Egan were right. Of course, at that time there was very little conservative media, talk show hosts, and no internet. Just about everything you heard from the media was from a decidedly liberal slant.

I had to go down to the city library to find the truth. It was there in the reading room, one day in the early nineties, that I started reading something called Conservative Chronicles. It was in that publication that I started reading articles that were at variance with what the mainstream liberal media was spewing.

The CC was different. The columnists actually provided facts to support their arguments. That was the turning point for me. I realized most liberal columnists, like Egan, had been hiding the truth, and that conservative writers and talk show hosts like Limbaugh were correct. I never turned back.

45 posted on 11/13/2015 9:08:08 AM PST by driftless2 (For long term happiness, learn how to play the accordion)
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To: markomalley
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."

New York Times' Timothy Egan should save some of his much vaunted 'concern' to Democrats... Democrats have LOST close to a thousand political seats of various types since Obama.

Our 'crazy' sounding guys are doing just fine.

Not that we aren't touched by Egan's phony baloney 'concern' for our well being... it's just that we think he's a liar... and the worst type - he's lying to himself.

So take your concern, pity and great compassion and shove it Timothy Egan... or give it to democrats... they need some compassion with all their loses, geriatric candidates, and FBI investigations.

46 posted on 11/13/2015 9:39:09 AM PST by GOPJ
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To: markomalley

Facts and truth in general are anathema to Liberals and the NYT and undermine their ideal of democracy.


47 posted on 11/13/2015 9:49:55 AM PST by arthurus (Het is waar. Tutti i liberali sono feccia.)
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To: markomalley
[...] a create-your-own-facts media world [...]

That's Rather misdirected...

And it's a Republic - if you can keep it.

48 posted on 11/13/2015 9:58:39 AM PST by roamer_1 (Globalism is just Socialism in a business suit.)
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To: RatRipper

Always said the GOPe wants the Fairness Doctrine back as much as the Democrats do.


49 posted on 11/13/2015 10:22:01 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: markomalley

“The true media elites are in talk radio and right-wing television”

That’s right...the real ‘elites’ are on AM radio.

Blasting out 1000 watts of non-stereo power.

The ‘elites’ decided to forgo modern technology in favor of the oldest form of radio communication with the smallest audience.

If you thought the ‘elites’ would use the technology with the biggest reach and most modern appeal you’re simply a fool.


50 posted on 11/13/2015 12:07:12 PM PST by Johnny Carcinogen
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