Outside of drive talkshow radio, I don't know if it's a rightwing controlled media.
Conservatives when they loudly claim the media is liberal, in effect, appeal to a natural instinctive influence: guilt. Not that the media is liberal and therefore guilty, rather it's because the very claim of bias inherently forces the question: Is it? A natural response to this question, and one way to blunt the criticism, is to provide conservatives better coverage, more mileage.
Remember, it's the party not in power--the Republicans--that is the one most typically likely to cry "foul!" And they do. Even if it's against the media.
I think this has been done and is one of the reasons why this year's election media has treated Bush with kid gloves, even to a point of riding with the GOPwinger Smear Parade which claimed Gore "lies." This issue got more coverage than it should have and it was imbalanced, even to the extent that Bush's similar embellisment record wound up reaching breakfast and lunch counters, the ultimate spin environment of pat lines, second after the claim already got anchored into Gore.
Meanwhile, Bush just skips and lugs on with a wink, and no meaningful issues nor his mention of his party's platform. The media's been attacked, criticism against him thereby minimized. He literally epitomizes The Absent Candidate.
It's my bet this won't last in the closing days as scrutiny will fall both ways. |
