In an unflattering light.

[americanstranger]

Quite a few bloggers commented on Sirius Radio's curious naming of their left-leaning and right-leaning radio channels the other day (like Steve Benen at TPM and Kagro at DKos, following Rick Perlstein's original post). Well, I noticed another way that the so-called 'Liberal Media' put liberals at a disadvantage.

I followed Cernig's link to the Raw Story video of Jane Hamsher cleaning conservo-dickhead Robert Bluey's clock on CNN the other day, and for some reason I took notice of the composition of the camera shots of Hamsher and Bluey.

In the screen cap (shown at link), we see Jane in a darkened studio with little discernable background, while Bluey sat proudly in front of the US Captol dome, with US flags proudly flying. So I got a little curious and took a look around. What I found was interesting.

Here's a shot of Howie Kurtz' show (shown at link), on which Mike Stark debated Newsbusters' Dan Riehl. Riehl (and Howie, natch) are swathed in a nice comforting blue, while Stark is dropped in front of a background that can only be described as a cross between mustard and baby crap.

And apparently, Fox bought one of those backgrounds, too. Here's a shot of Brit Hume talking to Carl Levin (shown at link) - the background looks familiar.

What's my point? Just that the 'liberal media' has such a bias against anyone on our side, they'll go to any length to make us look bad. Back when I was on MSNBC with Joe Scarborough debating Mark Foley, I was taken to a small studio in Babylon, Long Island - literally next to the town dump - and put on the air with zero preparation. You know that Foley and Joey Scar got the full treatment - makeup, lighting, the whole nine. Me? They put my pasty face in front of a camera and a light. It felt like I was being interrogated, and it made it a lot more difficult for me to concentrate on making my point.

And while I'd guess that people like Stark or Hamsher (and especially Carl Levin) get a bit more consideration than lil' ol' me, the obstacles we liberals have to overcome to be effective on TV are very subtle, very insidious and pervasive.

Basically, it sucks. Another reason I'm in a mood today.

Screen caps at http://www.blah3.com/article.php?story=20070716144850496

- as

[peacetalksforall]

1. I'm going to start observing. Thanks for the heads up. Don't want to

make you feel worse - and this is not color or light reltaed - but got a chance to catch the Chris J propaganda hour - they showed the Meet the Press segment between Graham and Webb and only showed the Graham part of it. You know that Webb was successful - and not inane (like some we know) or they would have included some of what he said?