This is my extensive analysis, one I hope gets read by plethoras of people so if you want to recommend it now, I'd appreciate you doing so.
I've broken my diary down into six sections for more palatable reading.
- What is the MSM
- It's About Ideology, How the MSM (CEM) works
- Corporate Dollars
- What is the Blogosphere
- Freezing Out Competition
- Conclusion
1. What is the MSM
The Mainstream Media (MSM) is anything but mainstream. It is almost fully controlled by corporate elitists which is why I will refer to it as the Corporate Elitist Media (CEM) and encourage others not to use the phrase Mainstream Media in the future.
The CEM has established a distortive Overton Window where it deliberately classifies conservative as centrist, conservative lite as far left, and right wing extremism as slightly right of center. All people who are truly slightly to the right of center, centrist, liberal, progressive, or far left have no place in this media other than to be an occasional token and/or object of a hit/smear piece. The only exception on the networks is Keith Olbermann, who "coincidentally" enough has seen his ratings with viewers in the 25-54 range increase by 72% the last 12 months while people like Bill O, Glenn Beck, and other right wing blowhards continue to lose viewers.
You get to be a part of the CEM only if you are willing to play their game. (People willing to promote right wing extremism who have any ties to a past or current Democratic politician are almost guaranteed a role) You get that big fat six or seven digit check because you fit inside their Overton Window. It does not matter that a show like Meet The Press would generate more ratings with a blogger like me on the panel than David Broder. I'm not a cocktail party elitist nor am I willing to act or talk like Bob Shrum so I don't get an invite.
2. It's About Ideology, How the MSM (CEM) works
The Corporate Elitist Media is more interested in ideology than profit although the corporate class warfare ideology they promote will enrich them while making 99% of Americans poorer.
Their objections to the blogosphere are hollow. Every pundit and writer is the equivalent of a blogger. The CEM is opposed only to content that is outside their Overton Window and will seek to demonize most of us under one overly broad brush. They don't see the hypocrisy in using the same blogosphere to promote their own views.
I would have no objections to seeing every newspaper in America regulate itself and designate 40% of their editorial space to conservative or right wing writers while simultaneously giving 40% of their editorial space to progressive or liberal writers.
I would also have no objections to seeing every television network regulate itself and give the same amount of time to a conservative pundit as a genuinely progressive one. I would have no objection to seeing conservatives control half the talk radio market so long as progressives control the other half. I don't mind competition. Conservatives and Washington cocktail party elitists do.
But the CEM isn't about the marketplace or exposing viewers to as many viewpoints as possible and then letting viewers make up their own minds. The CEM pundits believe that they should dictate to Americans what they are allowed to believe. All of a sudden, the Internet comes along and these gasbag pundits have to compete. These pundits still have a playing field tilted heavily in their favor but guess what? Despite the unlevel playing field, they soon find out that more people would prefer to read diaries at a site like Daily Kos than read their editorials or listen to their pontifications on TV. So they get vituperative and start calling us names. It dawns on them when they go to sleep at night that a) most people don't like them and b) they will be rendered powerless in the very near future. So they start whining, crying and yelling. They yell "liberal blogosphere," "hateful bloggers," "mean bloggers," "scumbag bloggers," etc... from the top of their lungs and from the tips of their pens. And fewer and fewer people hear them.
3. Corporate Dollars
Until Congress gets the sense to pass legislation which builds an iron clad wall between the news department and the advertising department, and to strictly separate the media subsidiary from its parent corporations, and to halt the consolidation of media, the media will continue to be controlled by corporate elitists which means the news will remain cancelled.
There is an inherent conflict of interest with the media and their corporate masters, one that would be intolerable in any other profession. Wars get promoted because the media conglomerate is also a defense contractor. Stories of insurance fraud go unreported because the media conglomerate owns the subsidiary perpetuating the fraud. Deficiencies in health care go unreported because the media conglomerate owns the HMO that is harming the consumer. A local car dealership's crimes never see the light of day the moment the dealer's owner sends a six digit check over to the account executive in advertising. Taxation policies get deliberately misrepresented because there are millions of dollars at stake for the CEO.
Journalism should be about reporting facts wherever they may take you. Journalism should be mostly about reporting stories that have a significant public interest. But that's not how it is today absent some exceptions.
We need an independent media free from external corporate interests.
4. What is the Blogosphere
The blogosphere is simply a way for people of various viewpoints to express them. As of now, it's citizen driven media. It's capitalism. It's democracy in action.
The phrase "liberal blogosphere" is a misnomer. The blogosphere incorporates politics of every political stripe and most of the blogosphere has nothing to do with politics. If you want to see hate in the blogosphere, the most common place to find it is on a right wing blog like littlegreenfootballs, Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter, free republic, or redstate. However the CEM is mainly about shutting up progressive and liberal voices. How many times have these corporate elitists denounce hateful conservative bloggers on their programs? In the case of Bill O'Reilly, he has perhaps the most hateful blogger on the web (Michelle Malkin) and has her guest host his All Spin show on Faux News.
The blogosphere helps level the playing field to some extent. It gives writers who may have the best ideas an opportunity to be heard when these voices have been knowingly silenced in the past. It's also given people an alternative. Instead of the evening news or a daily newspaper, a person can get more information by visiting a few progressive sites on the Internet. (see my blogroll) Spend 1 hour viewing the sites at my blogroll and you'll get more news there than you will in a month of CBS, NBC, and ABC combined.
5. Freezing Out Competition
The idea that more people may read this article than David Broder's next piece of vituperative ramblings in the Washington Post makes the likes of David Broder sick. In the world of the Broders, Novaks, Kleins, et al... only a small group of people are allowed to tell the American people what to think and nobody else is allowed to crash the gate to the cocktail party unless they give their blessing.
With the blogosphere, (Which Broder and almost every conservative media outlet also utilizes) sunshine becomes a beautiful disinfectant. In the past, when David Broder lies, nobody would know about it because criticisms of Broder's falsehoods could not be broadcasted. Now, when Broder lies or spews his hate, the information is stored and easily deciminated to millions within hours along with past articles showing his contradictions.
The thing that David Broder and Joe Klein disdain most is competition. Put diaries from DailyKos on the editorial pages of the Washington Post or Time Magazine and the best diaries from DailyKos would be read by LOTS more people. Klein can call me a scumbag from now until eternity but he doesn't want fair competition. Instead, Klein wants to cut the mike of 60-70% of Americans and then claim that he speaks for the center when he himself is way outside the mainstream.
6. Conclusion
The CEM can become relevant again only if it starts reporting the news again, creates fair panels to discuss the issues, and returns to basic journalistic principles such as in depth reporting, siding more with the common man/woman, and going where the facts take you.
But as of now the CEM is losing its power and relevance. They blame the blogs. It's actually their own fault but that's why they hate us.