Thanks to their feeble experiments with blog posting, the US Mainstream "news" media have revealed their decision to fully decouple from public opinion and dedicate their resources to The Party, becoming the reliable mouthpiece of Big Brother. This morning you can go to the Washinton Post online site and read hundreds of comments blasting "liberal" Post columnist Richard Cohen for urging "commutation" of Libby's jail sentence. Joe Klein performed the same service for Libby last week on the Time Magazine blog. Joe received a similar flame-bath.
Note that in both of these instances, the balance of negative to positive blog responses was in excess of 100-to-1. In the face of these overwhelming demonstrations of contradictory public opinion, these "journalists" assert that they are showing good judgement and properly reflecting the sentiments of mainstream America. What is going on?
Cohen and Klein would assert that they are being targeted by angry "Leftists," but it would be a statistical monstrosity for these blog posts not to be representative of public opinion. Something far more ominous is going on. Read more below.
- The MSM have decided that they will support the government almost unconditionally against the will of the American people. They reason that the combination of the might of the state and the propaganda clout of old media can suppress any amount of public dissent.
- There is a total coverage blackout on the disconnect between blog criticism and the positions being taken in the news, op-ed, and editorial products of the MSM. The MSM simply intend to brazen out their increasing departure from the Reality Based Community
- The MSM writers are not even bothering to answer critical posts on their blogs, a sure sign that they are operating under instructions. If they cannot even defend their statements, there is nothing to defend.
- A tremendous backlash against the MSM is taking shape. This may take the form of massive subscription losses or advertising boycotts, but the MSM are hoping desperately to ride out the storm.
- A tipping point will arrive when a particularly absurd statement, possibly Cohen's "it is often best to keep the lights off" so infuriates the public that they refuse to line up to buy their next copy of Big Brother's newspaper.
I never thought that major American media outlets would come to resemble the Volkischer Beobachter of the Hitler era, but that is where public decadence, government corruption, and corporate greed have brought us.