Stephen Colbert had a great segment last night showing just how Rupert Murdoch controls news narratives using his combined empire of the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and then Fox News. The latest example is how he got the lesbian rumors about Elena Kagan into the mainstream media.
It starts with that photo of Kagan playing softball in the WSJ. This got gay rights groups up in arms over it, playing right into Murdoch's hands. Because then, the New York Post got to cover the reaction to the photo with this blaring headline.
Does this photo suggest high court nominee Elena Kagan is a lesbian?
That was next to a piece titled:
I was token straight gal on gay team
Gee, I wonder what the Post is implying. Stephen's exposé below the fold.
Here's the key graf from Stephen.
The point is, the Post is not saying she's a lesbian. They're just asking the question next to the photo of Kagan playing softball, which itself is next to an essay about how all women who play softball are lesbians. I mean, this is what I admire. Any news organization can gather news, but Murdoch knows how to make it a sustainable crop.
You see, he plants the news in the Wall Street Journal, he fertilizes it in the New York Post, and then he harvests it on Fox News.
[multiple clips of Fox News talking about the rumors]
You know, considering how much they report on their own stories, Fox News may be gay for itself.
Stephen then goes into a bit where he licks a peanut butter & jelly sandwich in an explicit manner, before launching into his own bit about Glenn Beck's claims that God is speaking through him to deliver us "The Plan", which he'll reveal on the anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, "I Have a Dream" speech. But that's already been diaried. :-)