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Controlling the Narrative

September 14th, 2008 at 9:40 pm by Cranky

Friday was a depressing day politically speaking. I had lunch with two friends/co-workers. One is a die-hard liberal and the other is a younger guy who still believes the that liberalism is the way you show you care.

When the discussion turned to Sarah Palin, what I heard was an uninterruped stream of talking points straight from NBC or the Obama camp, which is obviously hard to distinguish.

All the points, from her scary Fundamentalism through not knowing the Bush Doctrine down to the semi-legitimate point about her original support for the Bridge to Nowhere, were covered.

I was especially flabbergasted that the younger friend thought there might actually be something to Trig being Sarah’s granddaughter.

Although I’ve been quite pleased that thanks to the Internet, these assaults are often debunked right away, such as the claim that she slashed special needs programs or abused her per-diem by reimbursing for days spent at home, the troubling fact remains that the MSM still has quite a bit of sway in shaping opinion. I remember many infuriating moments watching the talking heads lay on the slant thick and leaving me with no recourse save throwing a shoe at the television.

In Bernard Goldberg’s debut book, Bias, he illustrates the point perfectly:

Chapter 5 is a good example of how the media exploits an issue and uses it for political persuasion of the public. During the Reagan and Bush years, there were constant stories depicting the plight of the homeless in America. Many of these stories used grossly exaggerated numbers, to make the public think that the problem was far worse than it really was. The reason, of course, was to make the public think that people became homeless as a result of the man in the White House.

Then, a miracle occurred: Bill Clinton was elected to the presidency and PRESTO! The number of documentaries dedicated to the homeless dropped off to near zero. Overnight, all these homeless people found a warm, cozy place to live and the problem of homelessness was solved, thanks to our good buddy and humanitarian, Bill Clinton

Those days are thankfully going down the memory hole, but the number of people getting the news from the Internet is still a sliver of the overall pie.

McCain’s choice in Palin was, in my opinion, a smart move to energize the base. As McCain played the middle with a good chance of picking up moderates who see Obama for the hard-leftist he is, the dispirited conservatives needed a reason to come out this November.

My friends were already pre-disposed to dislike McCain and Palin from the get go and I doubt that these accusations or evidence to the contrary will change anything. On the other hand, there a plenty of people like my wife who have found motivation to participate in the political process again.

What does that mean for the MSM? I don’t know except that maybe people are smarter than the newrooms think they are.

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