Rachel Maddow "A Chirpy Gay Liberal": Financial Times

Financial Times:

In fact, I think they are correct that the media currently tilt leftward in the US, but not for the obvious reason. It says less about the bias of "liberal elite" journalists and more about a breakdown of the established media order, from The New York Times to Mr Drudge.

Mr Drudge's dominance has been undermined by competition. His sensibility infuriated so many people that left-leaning sites such as the Daily Kos sprung up to challenge him. Lately, his thunder has been stolen by the Huffington Post, an unlikely blend of leftwing blogging, reporting and aggregation founded by Arianna Huffington, the media gadfly.

The Huffington Post has leapt past the Drudge Report in traffic, attracting 4.5m unique users in September, compared with 2.1m for Drudge and 2.4m for Politico, a political news site. While Mr Drudge picks out stories that could hurt Mr Obama, the Huffington Post does the opposite, highlighting anything that makes Mr McCain look bad.

This shift leftwards online has been matched on cable television, where Fox News, the rightwing news channel, has increasingly faced its mirror image at MSNBC. The latter's leftish talk-show hosts, Keith Olbermann and now Rachel Maddow, a chirpy gay liberal, dish out scorn about Republicans in opposition to Bill O'Reilly and others at Fox.

The effect is not just to balance out Mr Drudge and Mr O'Reilly but to place old-school media objectivity, as practised by US newspapers, under pressure. Obama-supporting blogs have ridiculed stories in outlets such as The New York Times and The Washington Post that fail to dismiss distortions by Mr McCain.

Read the whole story: Financial Times

Comments

[Truth4Voters]

Rachel is the ultimate "Happy Warrior". Smart, succinct, funny and thick skinned. Such an unusual combination of traits. I'm happy she's a Democrat.

[jeanwny]

I ask again the fact that she is gay negates her opinion HOW. I quess I forgot "they' are second class citizens not entitled to opinion and voicing it. The people who need to use that attack are in for a rude awakening as the newly registered voter and next generations come into thier own. This from a mwf born in the 30's

[cyndeewi]

I cannot wait to see her interview Obama tonight... Woot!

[sonomarc]

Rachel is unafraid, intelligent and asks thoroughly important and fair questions. Her "chirpyness" is icing on the cake - it's simply enthusiasm (even for wonky details), which has been sorely missed in journalism. Of course she has a bias and freely admits it. Put it all together and she is creating her own path that will likely be dominate just has Larry King's show has up until now.

[blood1]

If the American public agreed with Drudge,et al, their ratings would not be dropping. What that tells me is that the political landscape is changing and they are quite tired of listening to any broadcaster that "yells" at them. These attacks on Rachel demonstrate that the right wing is attempting to "scare" the public by using words like "gay". The GOP et al has yet to figure out that Americans have moved into the 21st century and they have not.

[tobreakcustom]

Rachel is the smartest woman on television, bar none. Gay, chirpy or not.

[Glowcy]

.
Dr. Maddow, Rhodes Scholar and political scientist is a great balance to Mr. Olberman. I almost always get a newsw worthy factoid from her show that links competing concepts. I like her.

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[onlyred]

Why did they use that word to describe her? What would they have said if she was straight? "Chirpy heterosexual liberal"? Do their gay contributors have to stay in the closet or something?

I am over all this divisive crap. This is 2008 - get over it FT, she is smart, she is witty, and she brings in viewers. Guess why? Oh that's right - she's SMART. Let you old farts learn a lesson from this - we want the truth and we'll get it from whatever gay/straig­ht/undecid­ed journalist presents it, even if it's a polka dotted trans-sexual space alien. Take your bias, sexism and old school reporting and go home.

[cyndeewi]

I agree Onlyred, Rachel is wonderful. I love watching her, so does my family and friends.

[ravenfeathers]

she IS a chirpy gay liberal and that's why we love her. (well, the chirpy and liberal parts at least, i'm not really interested in her orientatio­n.) people need to get a grip.

[old lady]

Putting dissenting views on the airwave - what unmitigated gall... how un-American can you get?
Watch out, ThRush, they'll be guning for you next.

[anpu]

The Rachel Maddow Show is having a dramatic impact on the conservatives. She is brilliant and thought provoking without all of the theatrics that we see from other pundits. Her refreshing approach to dealing with political topics is making waves across America and threatens to become bigger than O'Reilly and Olbermann.­--Sorry Keith I love your show too. This threat is real and conservatives are attempting to hurt Rachel before she gets TOO BIG. Hence, the need to send Frum on with the sole purpose of embarrassing Rachel. Now we have a FT article that is trying to "pigeon hole" Maddow and they even through in a little "gay" reference .

Conservartives see the threat and are trying to keep her from being a juggernaut. If Obama wins the election it bodes very well for Rachel Maddow. "You go girl."

[old lady]

FT Sexist ??? You decide.
2 Females cited one described as gadfly the other chirpy
Number of adjectives next to male names cited = O
May I suggest a few
O"Billey, manic, hysteria driven .male dominant demagogue
Drudgery, (name should say it all) nihilistic nerd poster boy for Small D Syndrome
FT - stick to the F - you can't stick it to us this time

[anons]

I still wish she would part with sarcastic tone- its far too reminiscent of Olbermann.­.

I actually think she's more intelligent than Olbermann and should move her show into a more analytical wonky direction as opposed to the self-righteous, mocking liberal footsteps of Olbermann

[cyndeewi]

Please do not talk about Keith Olbermann. I don't know what Obama supporters would have done without Keith and Arianna these past 21 months. Talk about anyone in the world but please leave Keith and Arianna alone.

[BritishAmerican]

Why does she have to be classified as a "gay liberal"? Why not just Rachel, a smart, intelligent, open minded, world traveled Journalist whose show on MSNBC is beating other oldies on Fox and CNN. Toot toot, American and their ignorant labels of humans

[scouserinlondon]

The article was from the Financial Times.

[Jason404]

Just a minute. You are a British American in what way?

How come you have totally misunderstood the article, and have fallen for Huffington Post's misleading headline?

If you were familiar with Britain, you would have understood that the article was not in any way offensive.

[Djackson56]

I was inspired recently when Rachel spanked Frum up one side and down the other. Too bad George Will who doesn't have the guts to appear. The Frum/Will conservative movement is going the way of do-do bird.

[Djackson56]

You're right...Ra­chel does rock....bu­t the right will never get used to it until they, and their antiquated movement, hate, and rantings, are finally put to rest....si­x feet under.