A Word on the Liberal Media

I don't think the media gives a crap about liberal/conservative as much as (a) they are lazy and rely on the same narratives over and over, and (b) they serve corporate masters in corporate-friendly ways.

Case in point: Jamie Court of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights about Prop. 89:

Take today's Los Angeles Times editorial against Proposition 89, the California ballot measure to take big money out of politics. The essence of the editorial is special interests have too much control, but Prop 89 unfairly taxes business (albeit 0.2%) to pay for the political campaigns of candidates that reject special interest dollars and unfairly limits corporations expenditures on ballot measures.

So isn't the fact that the newspaper's parent The Tribune Company would be subject to a 0.2% income tax increase relevant to the paper's opposition? Is the Times looking out for voters or its own bottom line? That's the question readers should ask if they tear out their newspapers' recommendations to bring to the polls.

The Tribune also owns television stations like KTLA. Prop 89's limit on ballot measure spending would cut significantly into the gravy train of political advertising KTLA is receiving from oil companies that have spent $52 million opposing Prop 87, a tax on oil producers to pay for alternate fuel development (also opposed by the LA Times), and from tobacco companies that have spent $55 million opposing Prop 86, a tobacco tax to fund health care. The main opposition weapon against Prop 87, in fact, is a television commercial airing editorials from newspapers like the Times weighing in against it.

You cannot look at the media without also understanding that they are a collection of businesses trying to maximize profits. Campaign advertising maximizes profits. They want more of it and they want to make sure there's more money available for it. Raising taxes on them, even 0.2%, minimizes profits. They don't want that.

The laziness of the media is nailed by Bob Harris, who notices that the LA Times managed to write an entire cover story yesterday about how Governor Schwarzenegger has held the media spotlight... accompanied with a giant picture of the Governor, in the media spotlight.

The story, believe it or not: an allegedly objective look at -- wait for it, this is fabulous -- how the media is getting used by Schwarzenegger, and how his opponent just can't get a fair break.

Accompanied by a photo of Arnold that is more than eleven times larger by area. And Angelides isn't mentioned by name -- in fact, there's no mention that Arnold even has any political opposition whatsoever -- until the fourth paragraph.

The story continues on page A17. With only one picture -- of Arnold, of course -- and the new headline:

Arnold Staying Front and Center

Well bloody hell yes he is.

I am starting to think that irony got killed by a drunken mob in a bar fight sometime around 2002. Would explain a lot.

The media, when it reports on actual news, provides a public service. When it strives for analysis, it is either incredibly lazy or lets its pro-growth corporate bias show.