Monday, April 23, 2012

The Media's Sins of Omission, And Dr. Zaius...

Two glaring examples of hwo what they do not cover is as significant as what they do cover.  Professor Jacobson on the nomination of Mia Love in Utah:

Mia B. Love won a historic nomination at the Utah Republican convention on Saturday to run for Congress in the newly-created 4th Congressional District.

Love was the first black woman elected mayor in Utah’s history, is the first black woman nominated for Congress in Utah, and if elected to Congress, would be the first black Republican congresswoman. I’m almost positive that she would be the first person of Haitian descent elected to Congress. I’m sure if I looked hard enough, I could find some other firsts.

...given the mainstream media obsession with ethnic/racial/gender firsts, I figured I’d search the leading national newspapers and wire services, which surely would be touting this black Republican conservative female first.

Here’s what I found:...Nada


Some people with dark skin are more historic than others. And besides, there's the narrative to consider - Democrats are inclusive, Republicans are racists. Now you would think around this time there would be an enterprising journalist who would bust the paradigm wide open, but there isn't. More on why later...but let's look at another omission first. Glenn Reynolds reprints a reader email on the revolting Jon Corzine:

Considering the almost total lack of interest by the media in John Corzine, I’m guessing there must have been a “Keep rockin’” memo sent out on the topic that I missed. Maybe it was circulated through the double secret son-of-Journolist.
Is there any doubt that if a Republican president had a close adviser (and bundler) that presided over the disappearance of $1.2 billion of other people’s money that there would be a media feeding frenzy? With extravagant coverage day after day. I guess the media is on a diet. And only Republicans are worthy of a feast.


This is the worse of the two evils as it has done extensive damage to the consumer's confidence in the markets:

Professional financial market activity is also way down these days. The drop in volumes is damning...the Chinese-style theft of customer account capital by John Corzine and JP Morgan is the last nail in the coffin. The economics of investing make little sense, and even if you can thread the needle of profitability, you risk having your property seized by regime buddies..."


But some regime buddies are more evil than others. Just ask Dick Cheney. But let's revisit our question above - where is our journalist looking to blow the lid off of Obama fundraising by a man who looted billions from the private sector and appears to be getting off scott-free?

He doesn't exist. He can't be allowed to. Victor Davis Hanson:

What is going on? Two things, really. One, the media believes that the noble ends justify the tawdry means. So if it is a choice between emphasizing the latest Obama embarrassment by digging into the scary Fast and Furious, the “millions of green jobs” Solyndra insider giveaways, the Secret Service decadence, the GSA buffoonery, and the work while getting food stamps con in Washington OR endangering Obamacare and by extension “the children,” or the war to eliminate autism, or the right to breath clean air–well, why would one ever wish to derail all that by weakening a landmark progressive and his enlightened agenda?

 Or for you more cynical readers, why would you wish to enervate the present comfortable culture in Washington in which the press and politics are at last one?


 If I could make one fictional character to make emblematic of the mainstream media, it would be Dr. Zaius from the Planet of the Apes fame (circa 1968, thank you). He holds two government posts, as it were - Minister of Science, in charge of advancing ape knowledge, and Chief Defender of the Faith. So what does Dr. Zaius do after he enters the cavern where he sees evidence that human beings once ruled their world – a fact that repudiated nearly every religious tenant set forth within the ape's Sacred Scrolls?


Why, he blew up the cave, of course.

ZIRA  But the proof? The doll? 
ZAIUS In a few minutes there will be no doll. There can't be. I'm sorry. 

LUCIUS  Dr. Zaius, this is inexcusable! Why must knowledge stand still? What about the future? 
ZAIUS  I may just have saved it for you.



The media? They -like Zaius - know what is best...for them: Narrative status quo.  They believe it will save the future.  So -  like Zaius - they are dynamiting the truth, making it vanish, so that their doctrine, their Faith, the Great God Liberalism, will continue to advance unhindered

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How about the John Edwards trial? Instapundit also comments on the lack of coverage:

According to an Obama spokesman, it’s not news. Of course not. He’s a Democrat. “Meanwhile, Edwards still lives ‘in a sprawling house on about 100 acres with two of his children, Emma Claire, 13, and Jack, 11.’ Their mother is dead. Their dad faces 30 years in prison for letting friends help him hide his adulterous affair from the public.” Nope. Not news.

The JerseyNut said...

Just another reason why liberals can't touch the Edwards story without damaging the narrative. They are, after all, the party of broken families. Just ask "black America"...