Stephen Wynne Jones
MA in Journalism
Dublin City University, 2004
1. INTRODUCTION
THE CONSERVATIVE/LIBERAL DIVIDE IN THE US MEDIA
�The journalists of the United States are usually placed in a very humble position, with a scanty education and a vulgar turn of mind. The will of the majority is the most general of laws, and it establishes certain habits which form the characteristics of each peculiar class of society.�
(Alexis deTocqueville, French scholar, 1882)1
�Hey, shut up! You had your 35 minutes! Shut up!�
(Bill O�Reilly, American Journalist, 2003)2
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It all sounds so promising�
All the news that�s fit to print. The network America trusts for fair and balanced journalism. Real news, real fast. We report, you decide. Coverage you can count on. Subscribe to a higher standard of journalism. The spin stops here, because we�re looking out for you. America�s news channel. Welcome home.3
Objectivity, it appears, is everywhere. Fairness is omnipotent. Impartiality is all encompassing. God bless America.
But say can you see, by the dawn�s early light, the sensationalist corporate infotainers riding in on the crest of Big Media�s� new wave? While so proudly they distort, polemicise, and trivialise at the twilight�s last gleaming? Something is rotten in the American media. Freedom of speech, that most �august� of Jeffersonian institutions, has been engulfed by the partisan oligopoly of September, October and November. News has been washed away by torrents of ideological opinion; diversity has been relegated to the second division. Yes, the media is changing, but journalism can survive. Will survive. That�s the golden rule.
And as we all know, he who has the gold makes the rules.
Conservativism. Liberalism. Both are creeds to live by, both aesthetics to cherish. A �conservative� is bound by the duty to protect, or �conserve� his society; a �liberal� is devoted to the fundamental freedoms, equality, fraternity, and most of all, liberty. The archetypal �conservative� and �liberal� operate productively side by side, advancing the principles of contemporary society with peace and justice for all. Amen.
Where did it all go wrong?
Ask George. The American political landscape has miraculously transformed in a few short years. Spurred on by the twin apparatus of big business and 9/11, conservative thought has mutated into a hideous abnormality of the American Dream, with an unquenchable lust for money and an increase in the coverage of trivial business matters and political scandals. All under the tattered banner of Old Glory. The new media depicts Liberals as snivelling tattle-tales, caught off guard by the post-Clinton onslaught while grumbling lamentably about past glories. Pointing a bloody finger at the government, the majority seem blissfully unaware that their demented ramblings only serve as ammunition for those who they wish to debase. Balance? Hardly. Moderates no longer exist, swept away by the tide of hate bubbling up on the political shoreline.
�Freedom of the press belongs to those who own one�, as early 20th century scribe AJ Liebling put it.4 The recent rise of the media �business�, encapsulated by the self-perpetuating mergers of hitherto unrelated communications outlets has led to the remodelling of press ethics along economic and commercial lines. The once �free� press is now worth millions of dollars. If you want to toe the party line, go ahead. F**k the liberals. If America succeeds, business succeeds, so stop questioning foreign policy and get on the hyperpatriotism bandwagon. We�re all off to sup crude oil and chomp on some freedom fries�
Business is to blame. Bush is to blame. Even cigar aficionado and part time peacemaker Bill Clinton is to blame. The Democratic Left and Conservative Right have found a political battleground on which to go to war, and traditional journalistic values form the location of the inaugural skirmish. Somewhere in the melee one can see the moderates, crashing down upon both sides with paper swords, crudely formed out of old copies of the New York Times! There�s talk radio, imploring the troops forward, whilst discreetly maintaining a safe distance! There go the rabid media watchdogs, nibbling incessantly on the ankles of CBS, NBC and ABC! There�s Fox News, admonishing the French and wondering what the president has to say about all this! There�s CNN! There�s the internet! There�s freedom! There�s liberty! There! There!
Seconds out, round one. Conservatives v Liberals. It�s a game of two halves�
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1Alexis deTocqueville, Democracy in America Volume 1, Chapter XI, Project Gutenberg edition, http://www.bralyn.net/etext/literature/alexis.de.tocqueville/1dina10.txt
2 Bill O�Reilly [to Al Franken], The O�Reilly Factor, Fox News Channel, June 1 2003
3 The slogans featured are from the following news organisations or programmes; �All the news that�s fit to print� New York Times. �The network America trusts for fair and balanced journalism� Fox News. �Real news, real fast� CNN. �We report, you decide� Fox News. �Coverage you can count on� ABC NEWS. �Subscribe to a higher standard of journalism� Los Angeles Times. �The spin stops here, because we�re looking out for you� The O�Reilly Factor, Fox News. �America�s news channel� MSNBC. �Welcome home�CNN.