Posted on 08/11/2003 7:27:19 PM PDT by Keyes2000mt
Report #7 From: Dave Screwtape
To: House Democrats, Senate Democrats, Democratic National Committee, Our Media Allies
Subject: The Ring Wing Media Cartel
The second greatest danger we face comes from what was once very friendly territory, the media. It used to be that we had to worry about Republican newspapers, but as less Americans had time for newspapers, television became the media of choice.
Television was largely our domain. I'd say from the Reagan Recession in the '80s until the late '90s, we had our hay day. We controlled the networks and CNN, the only all news network. The only problem we had was that interesting television required a debate. However, to our advantage, we wrote the questions. That's not to say that our guys were not challenged. Far from it. Like the WWF, we had to make television news look interesting and real.
It worked for a while. It was easy and accessible. Less Americans read the newspapers and more Americans got their news from the networks. It was a wonderful situation that fell apart.
First, there was Limbaugh. Limbaugh made a dent when he came on the scene with his right wing fanaticism. Limbaugh pretends to understand thing as complex as the Constitution and economics when he never even finished college. Yet, people, educated people lapped it up as the deep-seated hatred, racism, and homophobia within their souls was affirmed by this maniac. For a decade or more, it was us v. Limbaugh.
Now, with the emergence of Fox News, we face a more daunting problem. Americans can now just as easily watch Fox's broadcast as they watch ours. In addition, the Internet is the most dangerous place on Earth. There, anyone can write anything they want, people can get their news from any source they choose. There, the Washington Times and the Wall Street Journal page are available to everyone and not just the rightwing business class that was their sole readership.
The Internet is also a wild frontier. It is the house of horror that Matt Drudge promised us. He predicted there would be thousands of reporters everywhere and so it has happened. The media world where gatekeepers protected the public from right wing propaganda has fallen apart. In its place, stands the worst of all worlds, a place where we must compete against those we held outside for many years.
The most unfair thing has occurred since this competition began: we have been losing. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Michael Reagan, Oliver North, and Bill O'Reilly have been leading the propaganda attack on radio and television while Matt Drudge, Joseph Farah, and his ilk lead the online campaign. We're deluged in right wing media trashtalk.
We have two options to deal with this deluge. We can regulate it or we can challenge it. I actually have a strong preference for the first. There are numerous regulations that could completely gut the Conservative media machine. For the first part, we could seek new FCC regulations requiring equal time. We were fools not to see how needed this proposal was back when Former Representative Bill Hefner (D-NC) proposed it. If we simply required that all talk show hosts had to provide equal time for opposing viewpoints, we'd stop the hour long Limbaugh monologues and the unpredictable diatribes of Savage.
We might also consider regulating the amount of time that a talk show host can be on the air in a given day, similar to the regulations we place on over the road truck drivers. If we could cut Limbaugh's day to an hour and a half and encourage ourselves an equal right to be heard, we will see great success.
As for the Internet, it is still a new frontier. Although, its life as an economic gold mine is over, it is still wild and untamed with anyone who wants to being able to set up their own website and say whatever they want. While regulation and taxation would solve much of this problem of this problem, Americans are not likely to submit to the type of controls we need to take the right wing offline.
Until that happens, you in the mainstream media must be diligent to keep those who support our sources of news from going astray. I don't care if they go to your news website, but the Internet is a land mine of right wing extremism and hatred. You must teach them to fear the right wing media. Let them know the information is often inaccurate and biased, unlike the truth you provide. Point out failures in online news reporting, as well as outrageous stories that should never have been published due to shoddy journalistic practices.
Be careful not to mention Jayson Blair, the New York Times, Operation Tailwind, or Steven Glass and we'll be able to slow, if not stop the right wing advance.
Regards,
Dave Screwtape
The Screwtape Report is written by Adam Graham. The Screwtape Report is written from a Democratic perspective by a conservative in order to reveal Democratic strategy and thinking. You can subscribe to the reports by clicking here.
Only when you cross a bunch of warlike, fire-breathing conservatives, who are members of an internet tribe, called FreeRepublic.
Or when dealing with The Dastardly Scottish Americans. :)
Darn, I forgot about the vast RIGHT handed Caber Conspiracy.
The old bait-and-switch routine ...
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