Cable News Polarization…
The Baltimore Sun’s David Zurawik blogs about cable news polarization…
I used to believe a national, media-driven conversation about race would make us smarter and more tolerant as a society. I really did. But that was in the good or bad old days — depending on your point of view — when legacy media like network news played a leading role in setting the national agenda.
Now, it’s 24/7 cable news and the Internet stirring the cocktail that fuels our nation’s after-dinner conversation, and you can see for yourself what a national conversation about race looks and sounds like.
It’s Megyn Kelly, on Fox News, pounding away at the tape of two members of the New Black Panther Party, one armed with a billy club, outside a polling place in Philadelphia in 2008 looking as if they might be agents of intimidation. And it’s Kelly leveling reckless charges against other broadcasters, like Bob Schieffer, of CBS News, for not acting on her interpretation of the tape.
Meanwhile,it’s MSNBC and even CNN showing the same images over and over of inflammatory, racially-charged, anti-Obama signs from what are described as Tea Party gatherings.
So much heat, so little light, and it all makes the blood boil while driving us deeper into one racial camp or the other — my cave versus your cave here on the banks of the primordial ooze that it feels like we have barely crawled out of these days and nights when I am watching cable TV news.
Advertisement
July 20, 2010 at 12:59 pm
From the article: “It’s Megyn Kelly, on Fox News, pounding away at the tape of two members of the New Black Panther Party, one armed with a billy club, outside a polling place in Philadelphia in 2008 looking as if they might be agents of intimidation. And it’s Kelly leveling reckless charges against other broadcasters, like Bob Schieffer, of CBS News, for not acting on her interpretation of the tape.”
Megyn’s INTERPRETATION of the tape? How hard is it to interpret that when some thug is armed with a billy club, intimidation is present?
And Schiefer isn’t just some old geezer or someone’s grandpa who isn’t up on the news. He’s a NEWS ANCHOR for a major network, and getting paid big bucks – how dare he NOT know what is going on with this story?
July 20, 2010 at 1:13 pm
” how dare he NOT know what is going on with this story?”
LOL
July 20, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Fox reports on current events period. True the fox opinion shows lean right,but they do cover all news. msn, mostly msnbc ,cnn, nyt and so forth refuses to report anything negative about, minorities,which covers,blacks, mexicans, latinoes ect., Gays, democrats , pothus, John Edwards, health care, anything that might seem positive about the wars, and so on.
The msn likes to cover fox, Lohan, Bush, Cheneys’ Beck, Rove, Palin, conservatives, tea party, Bachmann, Rush L., anything that’s negative concerning these people.
I think most viewers except the 20% that are hard core left wingnuts are beginning to realize this now.
July 20, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Mike Huckabee and Robert Duvall touched on news anchors partisan politics in his interview on Huckabee this weekend on Fox News. I added video for both so people can compare to Leonardo De Caprio when he was being interviewed about his movie Incepetion, he made a similar observation about polarization, and his two fellow actors gave a live demonstration
http://youhavetobethistalltogoonthisride.blogspot.com/2010/07/robert-duvall-saves-summer-movie-season.html
July 20, 2010 at 7:19 pm
miss– this is what’s been happening lately with many libs–they’ve been cuttin’ bait and refusing to participate until after the November elections– they’ve thown out some cursory Obama epic fail stuff comments, but they just don’t know which way the wind will blow in the November elections– just like banks (bailed out and mostly paid back) with their money and investors with their money and just like this is the reason that no investment folks are putting their money into ANYTHING– they are sitting tight and waiting– this is the important stuff– the black on white crap is just a distraction– wonder if he helps the Izzies to hit Iran– i’m just sayin’– November… wait for it– t
July 20, 2010 at 7:47 pm
^I have truly no clue what you are talking about.
July 20, 2010 at 11:59 pm
Msnbc is a piece of work. Now that they finally well talk about race issues happening now, its all fox and tea party folks fault. They have been forced to cover issues of the new black panthers eposode and Mrs Sherrod issue. As i expected Cris mathews and Ed Schultz today blammed fox.
I guess they can’t recall the race baiting that they have done since Obama’s election and the conception of the tea party. I guess if fox warned us that Iran was sending a bomb in two days msnbc would notify Iran that they need to send it the first day.
July 21, 2010 at 4:11 am
“As i expected Cris mathews and Ed Schultz today blammed fox.”
Who should they blame ESPN? FNC ran with the tape all day and then blamed the WH.