I'm a bit surprised at your disaapointment that the Times editorial page is not a repository of calm, objective analysis. But I know you too well to believe you'll argue that the Wall Street Journal, or Fox, or MSNBC are doing any better. Maybe we should get our news the way my daughter (a college sophomore) does, from this man.
The role of media in shaping public opinion has been a consistent thread within our conversation for some time, and the idea that national media provide some sort of reasoned accounting of events is a fiction, or at least a state of affairs that, as with so much of the post World War II period, lasted oh so briefly.
Still I miss the days when the grand old men (and they were mostly men) of print and screen bound us together, so much so that Lyndon Johnson's reaction to Walter Cronkite's oppositon to the Vietnam War was to lament that he had lost middle America
Eli
I'm a huge fan of the Daily Show. I'm sure it is considered to be part of the liberal elite media (he is an ivy league educated jew after all), but he does a good job of making fun of everybody. I want to post a bit he did this week on comedians. Jon adamantly disagrees that it is okay for comedians to say anything in the spirit of comedy Re: Rush Limbaugh. He cites Tracy Morgan, Michael Richards and himself who have all felt the wrath of media backlash from saying things that should not have been said.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-march-13-2012/the-vulgar-games
His bit also takes a jab at Fox News, who compares Rush Limbaugh to Bill Maher, and accuses comedians of having a liberal double standard. (There is that liberal elite media creeping up)