I was just over at Political Animal reading the comments to a post. Not being particularly masochistic, I don't normally read rightwing blogs or get my news from Faux et.al., so I was amazed to read the troll comments about Plame, Rather and the endless rightwing whinging about "Liberal Media-this" and "Liberal Media-that." Peter Jennings is biased. Dan Rather is evil. And color me surprised to find that, in some circles, the
fact that Valerie Plame was a covert agent is open to question.
I wouldn't mind half so much if there were occasionally at least some feeble gesture towards fairness. Where was the outrage when CNN showed the world a forged photograph of the Democratic candidate hanging out with Jane Fonda? Nowhere but the liberal blogs, unfortunately.
It occurs to me that what is going on is a devaluation of ALL information. Everyone is biased, so nothing anyone says is true. So where does one get accurate information anymore? Why, Faux News, for one. They're the only ones who will tell you the truth (as the Administration dictates it). Thanks to their high-roller Republican-sympathizing owner, they have become a de facto propaganda arm of the government.
[Tinfoil Hat Warning]: And with the recent revelations about ol' "Buckhead," even the rightwing blogosphere is now apparently merely a mouthpiece for the RNC and Karl Rove. You can't begin to convince me that, besides being a prominent Republican lawyer and Bush supporter, he was also some sort of typographic expert who carefully examined those memos only moments after the CBS broadcast. They were planted by the White House specifically to divert attention from the thrust of the story. Shame on Dan Rather for falling for it.[/Tinfoil Hat Warning]
As for the contention on the part of the wingnuts that government control of media is a bad thing... that doesn't even pass the guffaw test. I heard Kitty Kelley interviewed on the Diane Rehm Show Friday. She said that the president of NBC got a call from the White House, telling him not to let her on the Today Show to promote her book on the Bush Dynasty. Thankfully, he didn't cave, but many others, including the venerable Larry King did... She's been on his show for every book she's ever written, except her most recent. But the fairness doctrine was evil government control of media and needed trashing! I guess only covert government control is ok.
So how does one fight this? Rants on liberal blogs ain't gonna cut it, I'm afraid. How do we hit Mouthpiece Media outlets where it hurts? Why, in their pocketbooks, of course. Money is their god. I propose boycotting Faux News advertisers. A quick glance at their website: SBC Communications, Forbes Magazine and L.L. Bean. Well, I have no choice in local phone companies where I live, so that's right out. And I'm not the Forbes Magazine type. But I can sure as hell fire off an angry letter to L.L. Bean. And tell everyone I know not to buy from them until they stop giving money to Mouthpiece Media outlets. I will leave it to others whose constitutions are stronger than mine to scout Faux News on TV.
Fight back. Make being a rightwing mouthpiece expensive! Boycott Faux News advertisers!