THE MEDIACRACY

CHENEY THOUGHT RUSSERT WAS EASIEST PATSY

DANA MILBANK, WASHINGTON POST - Flashed on the courtroom computer
screens were [former Cheney communications director Cathy Martin's]
notes from 2004 about how Cheney could respond to allegations that the
Bush administration had played fast and loose with evidence of Iraq's
nuclear ambitions.

Option 1: "MTP-VP," she wrote, then listed the pros and cons of a vice
presidential appearance on the Sunday show. Under "pro," she wrote:
"control message."

"I suggested we put the vice president on 'Meet the Press,' which was a
tactic we often used," Martin testified. "It's our best format."

http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/arkansasblog/2007/01/russert_something_to_prove.aspx


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WILL MASS MEDIA MESS UP CAMPAIGN LIKE IT MESSED UP IRAQ?

JEFF COHEN, HUFFINGTON POST - Our country's political decline in recent
decades has been abetted by the decline in mainstream media. The same
media outlets that were complicit in the disastrous Iraq war are bent on
turning politics into an insular celebrity club in which only they get
to anoint frontrunners.

If the torch of leadership passes from Bush I to Clinton I to Bush II to
Clinton II, it will be a loss for our country - but a victory for a
corrupt Beltway press corps that abhors fresh ideas, especially those
that challenge its power and privilege. . .

For example, a recent San Francisco Chronicle news report (headlined
"Obama Emerges as Clinton's Rival for Dems' Left") asserted that Hillary
Clinton was "widely regarded as the left's most influential voice inside
the now-revered Clinton White House."

Widely regarded? Actually, progressives see Hillary Clinton as having
been consistently wrong on the war and a host of other issues,
especially trade. Her absurdly bureaucratic healthcare proposal in 1993
- shaped by and for big insurance companies - was a slap in the face of
unions, Congress members and grassroots forces who'd built a movement
for simple, nonprofit national health insurance: in effect, enhanced
Medicare for All. She helped set back the cause of universal coverage
for years.

And far from being "revered," many Democratic activists see the Clinton
era as one of decline in which Democrats lost their strong majorities in
the U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governorships and state legislatures. It's
simple math. . .

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-cohen/can-indy-media-stop-the-c_b_39304.html


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POST FAULTED FOR BLEAK HEADLINES IN DIRE REPORT

THE WASHINGTON POST has always been a pretty stuffy outfit, and it's not
getting any better. Here was a recent lead headline:

Humans Faulted for Global Warming

This is like saying

Boston Strangler Faulted For Deaths

The subhead didn't help much:

International Panel of Climate Scientists Sounds Dire Alarm

And nearby was a head that read:

Bleak Iraq Report Is Sent to Congress

Bleak, faulted, and dire on one front page is almost too much to handle.


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