MoveOn.org and the media mess (by Eric Boehlert)

[antiimperialist]

Sept. 18, 2007 12:31pm EST

...Journalists needlessly obsessed over the ad. They wildly inflated the political repercussions. They rarely explained what the actual contents of the ad were. And they let Republicans float the allegation that The New York Times gave MoveOn a special discounted rate because the paper agreed with the ad's sentiment. (Not only do facts have a liberal bias, as Stephen Colbert once famously noted, but apparently so do rate cards.)

Tactics and etiquette, that's what excites the Beltway press corps. And last week, the press loved the Republican tactic of campaigning against the MoveOn print ad. ("A brilliant straw man," gushed NBC's Chuck Todd.) And last week, the press tsk-tsked MoveOn's lack of etiquette in raising doubts about a four-star general. As for the war itself? That kind of coverage can always wait for another week. (Newsrooms have little interest in chronicling what's actually happening in Iraq. And FYI, ABC's Nightline has now gone nine straight weeks without broadcasting a single substantive report from Iraq.)

Fox News contributor Susan Estrich, bemoaning the MoveOn ad and claiming it was a huge problem for Democrats, labeled it a "juicy distraction." Based on the week's events, it's hard to say who thought the distraction was juicier, Republicans or members of the press. Both groups jumped at the chance to switch the Iraq focus from policy to politics. The wholly unimportant MoveOn disturbance allowed the press to treat the Iraq debate as another who's-up/who's-down Beltway campaign, which is what journalists prefer.

Is it any wonder CBS News' Public Eye blog reported that the MoveOn ad "nearly eclips the General's testimony"? Why? Because the press made it a big story. Period...

http://mediamatters.org/columns/200709180005

[Bitwit1234]

1. This country was bombarded for months and months

by the swiftboat ads by bush and rove's henchmen. We were bombarded by ads that said we liberals were enablers of the terrorist. We were told if we didn't vote for bush and cheney we were enabling terrorist. That we were commies, unpatriotic, un American, treasonous and you all know what all.

Where were they people in this country showing their outrage then. Every single solitary time a democratic organization runs an ad that is negative to the bush administration the republicans start a ranting and raving and peeing campaign. Enough is enough...I applaud the Moveon organization and I wish there were more ads out there who slam this S.O.B. organization and it's enablers. Give em hell, kick ass.