The Media and Internet Ratings Rush is Killing Civility
By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Peggy Noonan writes in the Wall Street Journal today in reaction to a USA Today/Gallup Poll showing that nearly half of Republicans and those leaning Republican couldn't name a leader for the party. The biggest vote-winner among Republicans was "nobody," followed by Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, and Dick Cheney. This vacuum has allowed the Democrats to brand the Republicans as the "party of no" as well as the "party of angry white men." Noonan notes that part of this is due to the fact that Republicans are out of power, which has happened before. Only this time, she says, the media infrastructure is very different:
Both conservative media and liberal media are alike in that they have to keep the ratings up, or the numbers up, or the hits. If they lose audience, they can lose everything from clout to ad revenue. Because they have to keep the numbers up, they have to keep it hot, which actually has some affect on the national conversation. The mainstream media is only too happy to headline it when a radio talker says Sonia Sotomayer is a dope. The radio talker may be doing it to play to his base, but the mainstream media does it to show that Republicans are mean, thick and angry.
On left and right, on cable and radio, political hosts see gain in hyping the story, agitating and exciting their listeners. All of this creates a circular, self-enclosed world in which it gets hotter and hotter and tighter and tighter ...
Must the Obama administration micromanage General Motors, institute a new health-care system, and institute a new energy regime? Must they mow down the opposition, shutting them out of the development of important bills? Well, the base likes this.
Can the radio host or the freelance policy maker calm down, become less polar and more thoughtful (yawn)? That would leave his base turning the dial and maybe going elsewhere.
Can the big left-wing and right-wing Web sites commit apostasy, rethink issues? In general, bases don't like that.
Everyone is looking to the base, the sliver, their piece of the pie, their slice of the demo. You wonder sometimes as you watch: Who's looking out for the country?
Things have changed. Over the last few months I've found the level of meanness and anger on the Internet—both from bloggers and their readers who comment—to be disturbing. Bill Bennett once famously asked, "Where's the outrage?" Increasingly, I find myself asking instead, "Where's the civility?"
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Reader Comments
I come from a right wing conservative family and environent......
And its impossible to have any kind of discussion with them on politics, they have intermingled their fundamentalist christian views with politics to the point that the two are indistinguishable. The only form of media they ever expose themselves to is the bible, fox news, Rush, Hagee and so forth. They never bother to dig deeper into issues. All I ever hear is how this is the end of America, Obamas a commie, a secret muslim, Blah blah blah.. and now there are even movements forming now calling Obama the AntiChrist!? I thought the attitudes towards the Clinton's were Irrational, I thought the Irrationality couldn't get worse, but with Obama its a hundred times worse. The illogical anger and hatred is unbelievably strong , and I sincerely hope the Obama Team recognizes the dire need for heavy HEAVY security.
Really?
Perhaps moral equivalence (as opposed to patriotism) is the last refuge of the scoundrel. I don't recall anyone on the left calling for the Bush administration to fail (as opposed to calling it a failure). I am unaware of any armed and organized Black or Hispanic supremacist groups spewing the kind of hate that motivated the Holocaust Museum killer. Where are the pro-choice voices spreading the kind of venom that encouraged the killing of Dr. Tiller? In short, any extreme rhetoric on the left is overwhelmed both in volume and vehemence by that on the right. Comparing Bush to a chimp may have been tasteless, but it was a novelty. Comparing Mrs. Obama to a gorilla is only the latest example of the racist meme that has been pushed for centuries by the type of people who now find refuge in the Republican party. Calling for both kids to play nice if fine. Don't try to ignore the fact that while one is a petty delinquent, the other is a thug whose gang has a long history of actually freaking killing people they don't like. It is at best disingenuous to compare the excesses of the left wing blogosphere to the statements of the defacto heads of the Republican party.
Hypocrisy, Delayed; Very few 'news' outlets
You're right, but about six years late. The hate mongering started after Y2K and permeates our entertainment, sports, and 'news' programs. I quoted NEWS because we have very little true reporting in this country (the best news program here is the BBC). We have talking heads, info-mercials, interpretation(s), nuances, announcers (note, not reporters) giving their opinions. Many are not reporters. Add bloggers, face-book, and other emotional eye/ear-catchers and the probability of hate/conflict rises. Without norms and respect it will continue to get worse. Look at the attacks on the last President > I couldn't believe what was said on national 'news' programs against a standing President. Rolling Stone, Michael Moore, Rush Limbaugh, others all are covered as 'reporting'. Fox, CNN, NPR > all skewed and I scan them all suspiciously. We of the middle have to keep mentally blocking the 10% on the far right and 10% on the far left. The vocal minorities have learned they can affect opinions by outrageous claims or statements. Because facts are not demanded. Hollywood has made it even worse. I am very hopeful with Obama, but the swing where no real reporting is being done, and the very apparent bias towards him keeps people from analyzing facts.
The sad part is how few Americans have the ability to analyze cause and affect, to assess symptoms versus problems; to truly maintain a balanced discussion point. So maybe the loss of real reporting is not that big a deal. This should be our measure: if a viewer can tell the political party or leanings of a reporter - that reporter should not cover that topic. Unless its on the opinion page.
Just the facts - no opinions, no family attacks, no interpretations... gotta go read the BBC current news...bye.
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