Sunday, August 30, 2009

Main Stream Media

Elli Ganchrow writes:

I was a big fan of Tim Russert and regularly watched "Meet the Press" on Sunday mornings to catch his tough interviews of both Republicans and Democrats. Since his death, I hadn't watched any of the Sunday morning news shows- until this morning. I caught a few minutes of John King and Howard Kurtz on CNN and David Gregory on NBC. Each show was to focus on Ted Kennedy's life and accomplishments (neither show really touched on any of his accomplishments- being that his sole accomplishments was being born with a famous last name and having two successful brothers). The guests consisted of Kennedy's relatives, supporters and Democratic Senators Kerry and Dodd, each of whom testified to what a swell guy the late Senator was. Neither show resembled a news program but rather a documentary sponsored by the Democratic party. My favorite moment came when Howard Kurtz, the "media critic" who works for CNN (how a media critic is supposed to be even-handed when he works for CNN is beyond my understanding) asked a local Boston reporter about the reaction to Kennedy's death to which the reporter replied that she couldn't imagine any Republican politician deserving the same type of send-off that Kennedy received. Really? How about the first President Bush? I will take his resume of Congressman, CIA Director, Republican party chief, UN Ambassador, Vice President, President and father of a President. Sort of beats a resume of Senator and unsuccessful presidential candaidate. Yet this idiotic remark went unchallenged by Kurtz nor by the other participating reporters. The fact is that the main stream media has become part and parcel of the Democratic party machine. Reading the New York Times or watching CNN or MSNBC has become the equivalent of watching an Obama infomercial. It is no surprise that the top 10 cable news shows all appear on Fox News. People are regularly turning to Fox (and the Drudge Report on the internet) to get unfiltered news without the left wing bias. The media should pick up on this trend and make the necessary adjustments to put the "main stream" back in main stream news.