Most observers of the 2008 presidential campaign -- even including some liberals after the fact -- were shocked and appalled by the media's pro-Barack Obama sycophancy. Unfortunately, the intentional and unintentional advocacy of the media on behalf of Obama was even worse in 2012.
There are many reasons why the conservative movement failed to achieve electoral success this year, but perhaps one of the most significant is the enduring power and influence of the left-dominated "mainstream" media. The 2012 cycle demonstrated that left-wing journalists have far more sway on Americans' opinions than many conservatives have been willing to admit.
While the right's ability to access mass audiences has increased substantially in recent decades with the advent of talk radio, cable television, and the Internet, its audience reach is still tiny compared to the hundreds of millions who consume news generated by the liberal mainstream media.
It is true that the audience share of these supposedly objective outlets has decreased in recent years, but that hardly means they have lost their ability to persuade people, especially with working journalists now ever more willing to throw their self-styled proclamations of objectivity to the wind.
Oops. This is from the conclusion:
Liberals have learned from conservatives. The question now is whether the right can learn from the left. While imperfect, the right’s policy and electoral efforts are far superior to its media and messaging institutions. Having more favorable media environments at the state and national levels will not guarantee victories for conservative candidates, but it will make their jobs of persuading the public much easier. People are not persuaded to ideas so much as acculturated to them.
Conservatives frequently complain about how America’s cultural institutions are inhospitable to their values yet they spend almost all of their money on think tanks and campaigns. If they wish for that situation to change, they need to change their priorities. Focusing solely on government is not the solution.
I’ve ALWAYS maintained that the MSM is all-powerful. Look at the viewers of the 3 main networks vs. FOX. Look at who’s in the White House.
Whatever happened to that guy who wrote on this site, “soon the networks will be just a few of millions of urls on the web. Shortly after the 08 elections the network newscasts will go dark...” Who was that guy and is he still here?
Many people seem not to have noticed that the MSM is not static. It is not composed of only the dying old newspapers and alphabet over-the-air broadcast networks of yesteryear. It now includes Facebook and social media, the entertainment industry, the Huff Post and leftist websites, and foreign information agencies of like mind. Of special importance is the university system and lower level schoos which require (yes, REQUIRES) students take pseudo-intellectual coursework that is decidely leftist in foundation to receive degrees. Any information-producing organization is a part of the overall system that shapes popular beliefs. I can also speak from years of experience inside these organizations that peer-pressure to conform to the leftist viewpoint is much greater than anything experienced by traditional Americans. A standard tactic is to ridicule opposing views so that none but the strongest independent personalities would dare consider thinking or speaking otherwise. Again, the peer pressure is great on minorities and young people. Your ideas cannot triumph unless the sea of propaganda and the peer-pressure is countered. That is where the action must take place.
Evan Thomas of Newsweek (now defunct), estimated that the liberal bias of the MSM was worth 5 - 8 percent in a national election.
The question is, what do we do about it?
Great article documenting the role the liberal media played in promoting Obama’s re-election. Ping to Today show list.
We need to look at people’s motives for voting Democrat. I think that many people vote Democrat because of fear. They are fearful people. The Democrats take advantage of their fear. The Republicans need to learn how to take advantage of their fear. The proper thing would be to make them courageous and strong, but that’s a mighty big task. Probably impossible for most of them. Take advantage of their fear, but for good reasons. The Democrat leaders take advantage of their fear to put money in their, the leader’s, pockets.
“Understand yourself and understand your opponent, and in one hundred battles, you will not be defeated.”
Conservative media caters to the informed electorate, those who care about politics and the fate of the nation. That's why we're always stunned that stupid people vote for 0bama. Any acquaintance with the facts shows just how vile this impostor is.
A few months back, several posts here referenced a survey in which 60% of respondents indicated that they did not consider the MSM credible—That result is not insignificant.
Regardless, for whatever reason, the Republican party seems reluctant to articulate what it stands for. (Maybe it doesn’t know, at this point.) I firmly believe that a combination of not conveying a strong conservative message, and turning-off the evangelical/conservative/TEA Party wing, sealed Romney’s fate.
The MSM lies about Democrats, and it lies about Republicans. Any Republican/conservative who thinks otherwise is a fool.
Reagan showed the way—Bypass the media and go straight to the people. Funny how often that success is overlooked.
Conservatives must invade and ultimately re-take the institutions of our culture for which we have had little but disdain for a generation or more.
This is how the left took control - by infiltrating our top universities, our charities, our school systems, our media outlets, our libraries, our museums, our symphonies, our government bureaucracies - from the federal level down to the merest municipality.
Rather than taking a swipe at Ivy League schools, at Big Media, at the NEA, we must invade and gain access to these places and change them from the inside out, in part using similar means to those used by those who took them from us.
Big-money conservatives need to invest in television broadcasting and news. I think Glenn Beck is going to try something like this. Fox has moved to the Left, and the MSM, MSNBC, and CNN are now Marxist front groups. I think a conservative television network, complete with courageous, crusading reporters (who don’t care if they’re invited to the latest Sally Quinn/Bradley Brie-and-Vin soiree’), and a free network presence, would change the minds of low-information voters.
We need to do a mass march on the networks.
We need to buy an over-the-air network and can all the liberals.
I’ve done a lot of reading since the election and I now conclude that Romney lost because of organized massive voter fraud. The voters, poll operators, machines, vote counting agencies, are all corrupt. To let this slip by without widespread investigations is derelict of duty.
ping
No way they figure it out before the SS Progressive goes under. No way. They threw all of that hope over the side and it's smart enough to swim back to shore.
I’m not buying the premise. Buckwheat’s win can be explained in two words: Voter fraud.
Republicans and conservatives have huge majorities in states. In 2010, republicans completely controlled 25 states. In 2012, that number grew to 30 states. In state-wide races, rats are being thrown out of office all across the country. Rats have lost 700 state legislative seats since 2008. The propaganda press wasn’t effective in the states.