TomPaine.com ran an ad in the New York Times the other day calling for a debate on the whole issue of media 'bias', between Eric Alterman and Ann Coulter.
I guess the idea is that the discourse would take place at the National Press Club and be carried on CSpan. Great idea; but at the end of the day, after having the notion drummed into them by the GOP for lord knows how long, would anyone really end up being convinced that, hey, ok maybe individual journalists on individual news organisations might be "left-leaning" (as if that's a crime - they're still, as far as I know, citizens) but you just can't have that sort of debate outside the context of media ownership and regulatory issues.
And TomPaine's timing might be a little off. There seem to be bigger issues to concern ourselves with right now, like maybe the future of the United Nations and a new Monroe Doctrine? The media bias debate isn't going away anytime soon. It's always an entertaining diversion, and of course, important; but let's address some of the more pressing (no pun intended) questions first. Like how has this administration managed to get this far towards war with virtually no adverse coverage from news outlets that are supposed to reflect a healthy diversity of national opinion?
Talking of diversity of opinion, CBS 60 Minutes has hired Bob Dole and Bill Clinton to run a point-counterpoint segment in the show. Much as Dole has been able to re-invent himself from the grumpy old curmudgeon who cost the GOP two elections to genial, humorous, viagra-driven elder statesman, it seems he might be just as mis-matched against Clinton as he was in 1996.
Neal Gabler made an interesting point the other day, though, when he said that this segment would be a minute shorter than the last time 60 Minutes tried the format, as Don Hewett believes audience attention spans are shorter.
Comment?
I guess the idea is that the discourse would take place at the National Press Club and be carried on CSpan. Great idea; but at the end of the day, after having the notion drummed into them by the GOP for lord knows how long, would anyone really end up being convinced that, hey, ok maybe individual journalists on individual news organisations might be "left-leaning" (as if that's a crime - they're still, as far as I know, citizens) but you just can't have that sort of debate outside the context of media ownership and regulatory issues.
And TomPaine's timing might be a little off. There seem to be bigger issues to concern ourselves with right now, like maybe the future of the United Nations and a new Monroe Doctrine? The media bias debate isn't going away anytime soon. It's always an entertaining diversion, and of course, important; but let's address some of the more pressing (no pun intended) questions first. Like how has this administration managed to get this far towards war with virtually no adverse coverage from news outlets that are supposed to reflect a healthy diversity of national opinion?
Talking of diversity of opinion, CBS 60 Minutes has hired Bob Dole and Bill Clinton to run a point-counterpoint segment in the show. Much as Dole has been able to re-invent himself from the grumpy old curmudgeon who cost the GOP two elections to genial, humorous, viagra-driven elder statesman, it seems he might be just as mis-matched against Clinton as he was in 1996.
Neal Gabler made an interesting point the other day, though, when he said that this segment would be a minute shorter than the last time 60 Minutes tried the format, as Don Hewett believes audience attention spans are shorter.
Comment?
posted by Steve at 10:33 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home