The death of Edward Kennedy was undeniably a big political story, but the five days of intense media coverage also exposed how journalists see the Senator's ardent liberal agenda as an unquestionable good for America, not as controversial policies that fueled high-tax big government at the expense of the free market.
Reporters painted Kennedy as Mother Teresa. "Over five decades, Ted Kennedy carried the torch passed on by his brothers, for civil rights, for the poor, and for the sick," CBS's Harry Smith opened The Early Show on August 26, just hours after Kennedy's passing. "For nearly half a century in the Senate, Ted Kennedy spoke for the people who had no voice — the poor and the disabled, children and the elderly," anchor Katie Couric echoed on that night's CBS Evening News.
On ABC's Good Morning America the next day, viewers saw a scrolling list of laws Kennedy worked on. Reporter John Berman touted the Senator's role: "If you're in a wheelchair, that ramp is thanks to Ted Kennedy. If you earn the minimum wage, you make more because of Ted Kennedy."
NPR's Nina Totenberg set the media template when she claimed Kennedy's liberal laws were adequate "redemption" for his personal vices: "He'll be remembered as a truly Shakespearean figure: tragic, flawed; who in the end achieved redemption through greatness — both in his personal life and in his professional life, and did enormous things for millions and millions of people." Over on CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday, Bob Schieffer saluted Kennedy as "the classic American hero."
Absent from the journalist tributes was any real debate about whether Kennedy's liberal approach — enlarged government, higher taxes, increased dependency — was on balance more detrimental to America. In contrast, when Ronald Reagan died in 2004, the largely-respectful coverage included numerous liberal counterpoints. ABC's Peter Jennings, for example, transmitted the liberal cliche that "a great many people thought he'd made the wealthy wealthier and had not improved life particularly for the middle class." Sam Donaldson opined that while personally friendly, Reagan "the ideologue" would throw "your kids off school lunch program, maybe your parents off Social Security."
With Kennedy, journalists eagerly hoped for one more liberal victory. "There's already an e-mail circulating that I've received today that reads simply, ‘In lieu of flowers, pass health care reform,'" NBC's Williams related. CBS News consultant Douglas Brinkley suggested there would be "a martyr syndrome" that "may help push this Obama plan through."
Beyond celebrating liberalism, the coverage matched the typically overwrought tone of TV's Kennedy family coverage. On every network, the Senator was "a lion." CNN's John King declared the Kennedys "America's last royal family." Noting the rain, NBC's Andrea Mitchell told Nightly News viewers on Saturday: "The heavens were weeping for Teddy Kennedy." (Video here.)
After the tributes, NBC's Tom Brokaw declared the public now had a better understanding of Kennedy. Wrapping up his coverage Saturday, Brokaw proclaimed: "In the last 48 hours, the American people have had a more intimate look at Senator Edward Kennedy who, for so many years, was a kind of a caricature for so many people. But they've learned about his generosity, about his passion for public life."
But in many ways, the media caricatured themselves last week. Kennedy's passing should have sparked a serious debate about his controversial liberal legacy. But star-struck reporters sought only to praise it.
—Rich Noyes is Research Director at the Media Research Center.
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Ted Kennedy was very
August 31, 2009 - 14:30 ET by Tim the EnchanterTed Kennedy was very generous to the poor. Of course I could be just as generous if I was spending other peoples' money (as he did), rather than my own. Sanctimonious hypocrites.
Tim....Your comments sum up the hypocrisy of liberals. In an
August 31, 2009 - 21:00 ET by Rush Fanarticle titled Liberal Scrooges Peter Schweizer, writing for the American Spectator, discusses the charitable donations of liberals such as John Kerry, Al Gore, Jesse Jackson, etc. whose charitable words definitely don't match their charitable actions.
This is what Schweizer writes about Ted Kennedy:
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“The liberal mind does not work like the mind of a regular person. Their obsession with power and control is what drives them at all times.” ~ Rush Limbaugh
Rush Fan, although she
August 31, 2009 - 21:08 ET by Radical1979Rush Fan, although she doesn't mention Kennedy, Ann Coulter's book "Guilty" has a good chapter on the hypocrisy of liberals and what they give to charity. The contrast in percent given between Obama and Bush was astounding.
Radical1979....Thanks for the information. I am an Ann Coulter
September 1, 2009 - 01:04 ET by Rush Fanfan, although I haven't read any of her books. Hopefully, I can obtain a copy from the library.
'for the poor, and for the sick'
August 31, 2009 - 14:34 ET by JDWHow much of Kennedy's will was donated towards such causes?
JDW
DAILY WAVE
Always available when the time is right
Hold on, let's check...um,
August 31, 2009 - 14:38 ET by anonymous621Hold on, let's check...um, no, not one single penny that I can tell. I could be wrong, though. The ink isn't dry yet on the newest will his latest wife had him write up. (me being a jerk. yes.)
-Eric
"How much of Kennedy's
August 31, 2009 - 14:47 ET by QueenMum"How much of Kennedy's will was donated towards such causes?"
At this point in time, I believe this is a rhetorical question. Or do you have information that has not yet been released to the public, JDW?
"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out
of other people's money."
—Margaret Thatcher
Kennedy
August 31, 2009 - 15:04 ET by JDWHis primary concern was a temporary gubernatorial
appointment until the special election occurs. The waking hours, phone calls, dictation... spent can only be guessed, but his last living goal had nothing to do with the poor..., nor did it ever.
JDW
DAILY WAVE
Always available when the time is right
The mental gymnastics
August 31, 2009 - 14:36 ET by Six String SpiffThe mental gymnastics required to justify your positions is immense
when your political idols are self-serving, arrogant scumbags. Ted
Kennedy was everything the liberals say they hate, and they adored
him. Shame on them for not having the personal integrity to stand up
for their principles.
What was so offensive, particularly at the internment...
August 31, 2009 - 14:40 ET by Prester John....was the commentary about how EWK stood up for peace and all those defenseless people in the world, yet no one in the MSM dared to mention the blatant hypocrisy of his stance on abortion (while being against the death penalty) and how he "flipped" from being pretty darn pro-life until about 1971 then became one of the most pro-abortion politicians in Congress.
Think of the real difference he could've made in the abortion debate if he would've stood with the teachings of the church be someone who was truly for peace, truly for the down trodden and poor, and truly for the most innocent and defenseless of all.
How sad it is that he chose political expediencey/viability over the truth.
Don't forget...
August 31, 2009 - 14:44 ET by stage9Teddy also was on the leading edge of ensuring that millions of unborn babies died at the hands of abortion doctors. He was also a proponent of weakening the family through his promotion of counterfeit marriage.
Yeah, sounds like God has a special place for someone like that.
"If God is dead, somebody is going to have to take his place. It will
be megalomania or erotomania, the drive for power or the drive for
pleasure, the clenched fist or the phallus, Hitler or Hugh Hefner."
— Malcolm Muggeridge
Gee, I wonder if the Pope
August 31, 2009 - 15:09 ET by Kat Outta the BagGee, I wonder if the Pope can fast track him to sainthood? I'm sure the MSM can provide details of miracles in his name...
Oh that Andrea
August 31, 2009 - 15:16 ET by bigtimerOh that Andrea Mitchell...she's so darn clever with words.
I can't take much more of the BS regarding TK.
The Kennedy's as Royalty...what a laugh....the msm talking heads just can't help themselves...they really think if they repeat something often enough we are all going to believe it like good little lap-dogs...fools that they are.
Obama's a Community Agitator, a walking, talking destroyer. ~ Rush Limbaugh
As usual...
August 31, 2009 - 15:23 ET by PA ConservativeThe SRM spent the weekend slobbering over this hypocrite. No one that I watched or listened to mentioned the hypocrisy of his stance on abortion. The fact that his "strong Catholic faith" was repeatedly mentioned made my stomach turn. Typical of our intellectually dishonest friends on the left. Report what they deem as important and conveniently ignore the inconvenient facts. Do any of them realize what a fraud the man actually was? My God, will this ever end? Disgraceful.
PAC
That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends,
it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to
institute new government...
They excuse his iniquity
August 31, 2009 - 15:30 ET by mattmThey excuse his iniquity because they are just as sleazy and corrupt as he was.
Liberalism is the new state
August 31, 2009 - 16:15 ET by deerjerkydaveLiberalism is the new state run religion, plain and simple. The problem liberals like those in the media have is they view government as a charitable organization and tax dollars as charitable contributions. As long as they believe this they will remain faithful observers of their state run church.
The Federal government was not designed to be the advocacy charity machine which it has become. Advocacy and charity was supposed to be left to private individuals and private organizations like churches. The problem the government has by advocating every little detail of human existence is they essentially turn into a religion funded by tax dollars. And our political leaders become worshiped and turn into false christs.
Kennedy/Biden
August 31, 2009 - 18:51 ET by okiehawk44As the collection plate passed, Joe Biden on behalf of the entire Biden family, reached deep and placed his usual $1 to honor the lifetime achievements of his beloved friend and mentor, Edward Kennedy.
Then he took out $.50 in change.
Good Lord...!
August 31, 2009 - 19:44 ET by godfodderI never cease to be amazed by the Left's penchant for cults of personality! I mean, look at the media-- they were attack dogs when the president was Bush, but at the first sniff of "royalty," they become sycophantic lap dogs. (That comment by Ms.Greenspan was particularly nauseating.)
I guess it's in their political DNA. They really believe that there are "special" people who are meant to rule the rest of us. FDR was one; and JFK, and Clinton, and now Obama. To be on the Left is to be a royalist. As much as they claim to be for the little guy, what they really are for is destroying anyone who is powerful, except the central state.
And, no matter how hard anyone tries, the Left will never, ever see how dangerous their vision is... until it is far too late. For some reason they are deeply emotionally attached to the notion that an all-powerful State will never abuse its authority the way those nasty "rich" people have.
I dunno... it just seems so amazingly naive, but somehow it is persuasive to millions. I just don't get it....
September 1, 2009 - 09:43 ET by jessieHHe was a murderer......
Millions of us still
September 1, 2009 - 18:34 ET by RR GOPMillions of us still despise the man and aren't shedding a tear over his passing.
Just wait until Carter kicks the bucket...hoo boy.
One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 86% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory.