The right wing subjugation of the media has been fueled by its appropriation of a "culture of complaint". It was (and is) everywhere... over the airwaves, internet message boards, even disguised as book reviews on Amazon.com. The rally cry hasn't changed in all those years: "We are the Underdog".
You can still see stuff like this on countless right wing blogs:
"... they (CNN) have made positive changes. They are still left leaning, but not as bad as they used to be... they have limited their liberal politics to Wolf Blitzer and his propoganda (Sic) show "the Situation Room", for the most part. They were forced to change to try and get their market share back from Fox News, the home of #1 ratings and the highest news market share in America.
This guy has one thing right: CNN is indeed scratching and clawing to get their market share back, all the way to the bottom of the barrel. Last week they hired Glenn Beck, the host of a nationally syndicated talk show broadcast over the Premiere Radio Networks and owned by Clear Channel.
What was it about Beck that attracted CNN? Well, he's familiar with the Fox playbook. He wrote a weighty paperback called "The Real America" where he agrees that "Political correctness is the classic Great Idea Gone Wrong".
As for Beck's broadcasting skills, here are some examples of what CNN is keen to share with their audience...
"(I'm) thinking about killing Michael Moore"
"Cindy Sheehan is a tragedy slut."
"[T]his is horrible to say, and I wonder if I'm alone in this -- you know, it took me about a year to start hating the 9-11 victims' families? Took me about a year."
Living in Hollywood, I've developed a nose for raw talent... and I can tell right away that these tender homilies are what Ken Jautz, Vice President of CNN Worldwide News, had in mind when he characterized Beck as "cordial... conversational, not confrontational."
Jautz also describes him as "the next piece in the puzzle." I'm glad they're finally getting serious about solving that old "reporting the news" puzzle.
The Culture of Complaint invites Al-Qaeda to level San Francisco and celebrates the shooting death of an innocent man ("five in the noggin is fine!"). Now CNN has shined up a new bully pulpit and Glenn Beck is settling in, ready to help spread the love.
Liberals have long been channeling Rip Van Winkle in their response to these rancorous blowhards... but signs of life could be seen in last week's Bunker Hill charge into the Washington Post blog.
Deborah Howell, the Post's ombudsman, repeated the White House spin that Jack Abramoff donated money to Democrats and furious readers stormed the comment section at the Post's website. Soon the joint was overflowing with all nature of protest... angry, barbed and intractable.
But not unremovable. Wouldn't you know it, the second liberals show some collective moxie, they get shut down. Jim Brady, the executive editor of washingtonpost.com, pulled those comments because they were "abusive" and "were very, very nasty, using words that I didn't even know existed..."
"Abusive"? "Nasty"? If those commentators were that bad, send 'em over to CNN... they might still be hiring. Remember, Glenn Beck is just a part of the puzzle.
