Media: Angry Right-Wingers Are Important; Angry Libs Are Annoying

Suddenly this summer, as right-wing mini-mobs turn health care forums into free-for-alls, as unhinged political rage flows in the streets, and as the Nazi and Hitler rhetoric flies, anger is in. Suddenly anger is good. It's authentic. It's newsworthy. Reading and watching the mini-mob news coverage, the media message seems clear: Angry speaks to the masses.

Instead of being turned off by the displays of passion the way the press had been when liberal protesters took to the streets prior to the Iraq war, media elites have been touting the mini-mob trend as a "phenomenon" (USA Today) staffed by a "citizen army" (Bloomberg News).

And make no mistake, the health care mini-mobs have been showered with a massive amount of media coverage. During the week of August 10-16, the topic of health care, and specifically the politics and the protests of health care, accounted for a staggering 62 percent of all cable news coverage, according to the Pew Research Center's weekly survey. My guess is that you would be hard-pressed to find a single week during the run-up to the Iraq war when liberal anti-war protests accounted for just 6 percent of the cable news coverage.

Why the gaping disparity? How come liberal anti-war protesters were shunned by the press, but the mini-mobs are showered with incessant coverage? It's because apparently when angry -- and overwhelmingly white -- conservatives protest, they come attached with a direct line to the American psyche. Liberals, though, most certainly do not.

Bottom line: Liberal protesters don't tell us anything about the mood of America. But angry right-wingers do, according to the press.

Read the entire Media Matters column here.

Follow Eric Boehlert on Twitter: www.twitter.com/EricBoehlert

Comments

[dakotawoman]

"Unhinged" is exactly right.

I also am dismayed by the news media treating these displays of rage and fanaticism as real news.

But, do any of us still think for one minute that the national news media is neutral? They're sold out to Big Business which has a huge stake in the concervative agenda.

We've got the "presidential seal, presidential podium" and maybe our mama "loves us, loves us", but in many ways we liberals and progressives are clutching the rim of the precipice with our fingernails.

I wonder if this was how America felt back in 1859 while it teetered on the brink of civil war? Are we simply too polarized? Have we all simply demonized our enemies so completely that no reconciliation is possible?

That sounds paranoid obviously, but the cognitive dissonance I feel as we all go about our lives as usual while others shriek that the sky is falling -- it's just disorienting. I mean, life goes on smoothly all around me here. People are working, some even prospering. Goods and services and money flow freely, schools open, kids study, their parents go to steady jobs, we all eat, play, watch tv, relax, play ball, go to concerts, jog in the park, care for our ill, go about our daily business as usual and seem content, happy, well-fed, safe -- but to listen to some Americans on some media oulets -- Armegedden has descended and we are all on fire!!!

??????????????

What is UP with that?!

[devadasi]

The points you make are excellent Eric...the MSM's reaction is very disturbing.

[HonestAbbie]

What I am increasingly convinced of is that Republicans have become mentally disturbed. The
statements uttered this morning by Rep Marsha Blackburn about a MANDATE concerning
End of Life Talks with Doctors was troubling to say the least.

I have no love for Joe Scarborough but even he appeared to be agast that Blackburn would keep
repeating that out and out lie.

I do believe that Fox TV is responsible for this mass unhingement of Republicans. Fox has used
our Freedom of Speech right to mean that they can LIE and Deceive the American public. It amounts
to shouting FIRE in a crowded room.

It is against the law to cause a stampede with a speech of that type and I believe tha it should be
against the law to USE AMERICAN AIRWAYS TO PROPAGATE LIES TO TERRIFY THE AMERICAN
PUBLIC.

Laws have to be changed. We need the Fairness Doctrine back . This would prevent these
lies from taking hold. Barring that the FCC SHOULD REMOVE FOX'S LICENSE. Fox has NO right
to a license. Its a privilege. They are abusing that privilege.

As for rep congresspersons, they cannot serve the nations good while promoting delusions and lies. They are doing a disservice to the nation.

This ignoring common sense is growing in magnitude and we need to take action against this
behavior. We are faced with a group of people who are tryijng to TAKE OVER AND CONTROL THE
GOVERNMENT while mentally disturbed. They are unfit for service

[comatoast]

Marsha Blackburn is a disgrace to the U.S. House of Representatives and to the State of Tennessee. Unfortunately, she has discovered that her constituents would much rather hear a lie they can agree with than a truth they find difficult to accept. She uses their willingness to wear blinders to maintain her political stature. As a resident of Tennessee myself (although thankfully not in Blackburn's district), I am continually disheartened by the willingness of my fellow citizens to accept (and even endorse) such lackluster, low-brow representation. Our needs for progress (both political and economic) are great here, but being a place where Huckabee and Clinton won the primaries, and McCain the general election illustrates plainly why it will be a long time coming.

[Shammie2000]

The media does show angry old white right wingers, but as President O said last week, many times
what they are angry about is not true, death panel, birther's, etc. Many of these things simply are not
true and no one call's these old people on this fact.

[ProperGanda]

The way I personally see it:
These wackos saying "I want my country back" and other corny catchphrases are making the republicans look bad. I personally don't want to identify with them, and my opinion on a public option has changed to where I support it now.

[Chernynkaya]

I think the whole deal with the MSM is that they are lazy lemmings. I most cases it is not a thought out plan to shape public opinion. (The notable exceptions being all of Fox and some of MSNBC.) It is simply that they do what is easiest for them, i.e., show the most visual and the easiest to comment upon stories. Anything else is far too nuanced for them, as it would require more than a moment's thought and some actual analysis.

The media has dumbed itself down and is taking us with them. This is odd to me, since now that we have a 24/7 news cycle, and more stations than ever, we have less reporting. That's is plain, old-fashioned sloth.

[Cordell Garrett]

In order for progressives to be heard on anything we must come out in numbers like we did during the Presidential election. Sadly, if this is any indication, this is the same tactics the conservatives will be using on all of the President’s important issues he has coming up.
We’ve already seen a hint of it on Meet the Press. Dick Armey is quoted as saying he is suing the Federal Government because he doesn’t want to participate in Medicare. He see’s it as socialized medicine. We need to get out there and being herd more.

We can’t count on CNN or FOX. They won’t put our people on. For some reason it seems cool to be conservative and being liberal. If it doesn’t protect profits there not all for it.

[bujudude]

Unfortunately, media and hypocrisy have nearly become synonomous since the Reagan era, and from FOX news and the Bush administration forward, it just got worse.

Racism is nearly always embedded in said hypocrisy since to most media hacks, "real" Americans are straight, white, conservative and Christian. Never mind that their words and actions are the polar opposite of their beloved "family" values. Lies, hyperbole and sheer volume and repitition have supplanted rational discourse.

Thus, angry right-wing mobs are "newsworthy", everyone else can be dismissed (at best) as not newsworthy, a socialist/­communist/­terrorist America-hater at worst.

[LiberalBuzz]

Yep, pretty well put.

[JerryLevy]

Ahh yes----RACISM! If you are angry about the healthcare proposals, high deficits that used to bother the Democrats when Bush was in office, and you don't like Cap and Trade----that's right, you are a RACIST.

[bujudude]

Um, no, that isn't the central issue. The town hall disruptions are pure obstructionism, fanned into a frenzy by FOX and Limbaugh. When Bush was president, no one even vaguely critical of his policies were allowed anywhere near him. Isn't this hypocrisy at is worst? Bush protestors were evil America haters, Obama protestors are patriots?

And frankly, MOST of the town hall protestors ARE racist! However you attempt to deconstruct it, they will NEVER accept a black president. Sorry, Bill Maher said it best: Not ALL Republicans are racsit, but if you ARE racist, you're probably a Republican.

[TopJack]

Indeed. it's for this reason alone that I've ceased watching CNN. Not the the actions of one former viewer makes a hill of beans, but I could not in good conscious continue to patronize a news outlet that offered such hypocritical coverage.

Last Sunday, despite a plurality of Democrats in the White House and Congress, John King's "State of the Union" featured two Republican leaders and only one democratic one on a health care panel.

How is this representative of the "State of the Union?"

Bottom line: when white, conservative people are angry, there must be a reason that everyone should pay attention to. The rest are whining.

There really should be a new moniker coined for today's media. They are purveyors of deceptive propaganda and media in name only (MINO).

[BarryS]

Ah, now you see the real media bias. Most media styill can't admit that the war in Vietnam was wrong, that Bush tortured. But Birthers, Deathers, etc. are equal in import and truth. So much for the sorry history of the MSM.