{"id":17613,"date":"2016-09-09T13:27:47","date_gmt":"2016-09-09T21:27:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/?p=17613"},"modified":"2016-10-12T11:05:36","modified_gmt":"2016-10-12T19:05:36","slug":"your-turn-how-the-media-blew-the-big-story-about-gop-extremism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/?p=17613","title":{"rendered":"How the Media Blew the Big Story About GOP Extremism"},"content":{"rendered":"

great piece via Moyers.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Donald Trump reflects the \u201cextremist\u201d values Republicans have been cultivating for decades, while the mainstream media intentionally looked away. Readers weigh in with their perspectives below.<\/strong><\/p>\n

BY KARIN KAMP | MARCH 22, 2016<\/p>\n

\"gettyimages-1813346-1280x720\"<\/a><\/p>\n

California governor Ronald Reagan speaks to journalist John Chancellor (L) on the floor of the Republican National Convention, Miami Beach, Florida, August 1968. (Photo by Hulton Archive\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

While the media and establishment Republicans like to paint Donald Trump as a colorful outlier, he is actually the fulfillment of everything the GOP has been saying and doing for decades, writes Neal Gabler in his recent media column, \u201cBlowing the Biggest Political Story of the Last Fifty Years.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

To take on extremism, Gabler writes, would reveal not only the Republicans\u2019 deficiencies, both of its elected officials and its rank and file, but the deficiencies of the entire American political system.\u00a0Gabler sees Trump\u2019s popularity as the unmasking of how the Grand Old Party devolved from a \u201cbusiness-centered, small town, white Protestant set of beliefs\u201d into a party associated with \u201cbigotry, intellectual dishonesty, ignorance, warmongering, intractability and cruelty against the vulnerable and powerless.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mainstream media \u201cchose not to tell\u201d the story over the past 50 years, as the party lurched \u201cnot just rightward, but extremist-ward,\u201d particularly after Ronald Reagan became president. If the news media had done its job, Gabler contends, we would have seen headlines that accurately reflected what was happening, such as these: \u201cRepublicans Oppose Civil Rights\u201d; \u201cRepublicans Demonize Homosexuals and Deny Them Rights\u201d; or \u201cRepublicans Work to Defeat Expansion of Health Insurance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mainstream news media would probably defend themselves by saying they don\u2019t take sides, Gabler says, and that partisanship is for outlets like Fox News and MSNBC. But accurate reporting, of course, requires taking sides when one side is \u201cspouting falsehoods\u201d or speaking in dog whistles. So why didn\u2019t the media take on the the story happening before our eyes? \u201cTo take on extremism,\u201d Gabler writes, \u201cwould reveal not only the Republicans\u2019 deficiencies, both of its elected officials and its rank and file, but the deficiencies of the entire American political system.\u201d<\/p>\n

The end of the FCC Fairness Doctrine led to a \u2018tolerance of extremism, whitewashing of falsehoods, promotion of propaganda and lies.\u2019<\/strong>
\n \u2014 LUCIUS ON BILLMOYERS.COM<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A number of people wrote in agreement with Gabler but added that the \u201cextremist-ward\u201d shift began well before Reagan. Facebook follower, Timothy Brinduse, says: \u201cMcCarthyism, the John Birch Society, brought to you by the Koch Brothers\u2019 father, Fred [whose son Charles was an active member of the controversial right-wing group during its campaigns against the civil rights movement in the 1960s], as well as Nixon\u2019s Southern Strategy [in which GOP candidates gained political support in the South by appealing to racism against blacks] \u2014 the roots of this bitter fruit run deep.\u201d<\/p>\n

To which Daniel Smith responded: \u201cAND the brainwashing influence of right-wing propaganda radio and TV in all of this loony mindset taking over Republicans minds.\u202c\u201d That was the most popular comment on the BillMoyers.com Facebook page.<\/p>\n

The lack of coverage, many wrote in to say, is all about the corporatization and consolidation of the media and the end of the FCC Fairness Doctrine under Ronald Reagan in 1987. That, according to Lucius, has led to the \u201ctolerance of extremism, whitewashing of falsehoods, promotion of propaganda and lies.\u201d Corporate elites are not interested in educating the public \u201cso news has become infotainment.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the Democrats?<\/p>\n

Christie Bowdle suggests that Gabler write this same article from the perspective of the Democratic Party. \u201cThere is no way it still holds the same values and integrity that was around when FDR was president. The bottom line is America itself has changed. Not necessarily for the good.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is no way [the Democratic Party] still holds the same values and integrity that was around when FDR was president. The bottom line is America itself has changed. Not necessarily for the good.<\/strong>
\n \u2014 CHRISTIE ON BILLMOYERS.COM<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Someone identifying as SecularHumanist199 replied to Bowdle, writing that it is \u201ca false equivalency\u201d to say that the Democratic Party has devolved to the extent that the Republicans Party has.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, they did try to block things done by Bush, but based on real policy differences and not just because of who he was, unlike Republicans who have tried to block everything President Obama has proposed even if it was something with which they agreed in the past.\u201d [Editor\u2019s note: According to recent academic research, both parties have moved away from the center in recent decades, but Republicans in the Senate and especially the House have drifted away from the center far more rapidly than Democrats.]<\/p>\n

Ponta Vedra agrees that the GOP has moved further rightward. She writes that the GOP establishment has been \u201ccarefully cultivating an atmosphere of fear, paranoia, and outright loathing so they could use that atmosphere to manipulate the public. Enter Donald Trump, who simply walks right up \u2014 excuse me, he just coasted down an escalator \u2014 grabbed it, and walked off with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Vedra also thinks Gabler misses the point that Trump is \u201cnot really even an outlier, he\u2019s an outsider\u201d and she believes that the real reason the GOP establishment is distancing itself from Trump is not because of his outrageousness, but because he owes them nothing. \u201cHe has no reason to do what they want or put their players into positions of power. That\u2019s why they oppose him: because he\u2019s not under their control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sam disagrees, he says, the Republican establishment really does \u201chate Trump.\u201d He is \u201cexactly the ridiculous caricature of Republicans that Democrats have been pretending Republicans are for years.\u201d One of the reason the left is giving him \u201ctons of free press\u201d is because \u201cthey love having someone like him with an R next to his name.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for our citizenry, Sylvie Walker asks that we all recognize the forces that have conspired to make both sides feel abandoned. \u201cFear, debt and insecurity will make everyone go into overdrive attempting to right an unbalanced boat. The left must reach out and protect the folks suffering on the right. The right must reign in the vitriol and recognize the suffering on the left.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed there were a lot of comments against the \u201clies,\u201d \u201cpropaganda\u201d and \u201cbias\u201d of reporting on both the right and left, and few, if any, mainstream news outlets came away unscathed.<\/p>\n

But no matter what your position, Ruth Riegelhaupt-Herzig \u202amakes an interesting point, when she writes: \u201cI have never understood why false advertising is illegal but false news is legal. It has been so dangerous. The fear-mongering, hateful, false news combined with the obstructionist Congress has created a hate-filled population ripe for someone like Trump to take over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Referring presumably to the late-night satirical news programs, \u202aCatherine Thiem\u202a writes \u201cour comedians are the only truth tellers out there these days.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trouble is, when it comes to real news, we\u2019re not laughing \u2014 and we suspect no one else is either.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

great piece via Moyers.com Donald Trump reflects the \u201cextremist\u201d values Republicans have been cultivating for decades, while the mainstream media intentionally looked away. Readers weigh in with their perspectives below. BY KARIN KAMP | MARCH 22, 2016 California governor Ronald … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17613"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17627,"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17613\/revisions\/17627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}