As most NewsBusters readers know, conservatives argue that reporters tend to be liberal, and that their liberalism influences their reporting. A common lefty counterpart, which Paul Rosenberg expressed in a Saturday Salon article, isn’t that most journalists are conservative, but rather that Republicans have manipulated them into ignoring (and thereby facilitating) right-wing extremism.
“For quite some time now,” wrote Rosenberg, “conservative Republicans have realized that by moving right and attacking the media for any criticism, they can turn the media into a tacit ally, forcing them to treat preposterous claims as serious ideas, or even proven facts.”
Rosenberg explained, “If the media is going to split the difference between what Democrats and Republicans say, then if Republicans simply double their demands, suddenly the media…will now articulate the old GOP position as the ‘sensible center’...[O]nce the media plays along, it’s a trick that can be used over and over again. [Republicans] can keep moving farther and farther right indefinitely, pulling the ‘objective’ media along for the ride.”
From Rosenberg’s piece (bolding added):
[T]he media[’s] stubborn adherence to a false balance narrative has, ironically, become an integral part of the GOP’s relentless rightward push. By talking about “government dysfunction” instead of “Republican obstruction,” the media actively helps the most extreme anti-government Republicans thwart any efforts at competent governance and it helps promote their “government is horrible” worldview. It normalizes the abnormal, even the bizarre.
There was once a penalty for becoming too politically extreme: one’s actions would be characterized as unrealistic, destructive, heedless of past experience, etc….[T]his media practice inhibited radical movements in either direction. For quite some time now, however, conservative Republicans have realized that by moving right and attacking the media for any criticism, they can turn the media into a tacit ally, forcing them to treat preposterous claims as serious ideas, or even proven facts…
…[A]t the time of the [government] shutdown, in October 2013, I wrote a piece…in which I argued:
[P]erhaps the single greatest asset the GOP has on its side is the so-called “liberal media,” with its ideological bias toward “balance” that prevents it from honestly reporting that the shutdown is a entirely Republican creation — which would dramatically intensify the pressure on Republicans to fold…
…“Balance” does not ensure a clearer, more honest, more complete, more objective picture of the relevant facts — especially in current circumstances.
The GOP’s strategic logic is simple and straightforward: If the media is going to split the difference between what Democrats and Republicans say, then if Republicans simply double their demands, suddenly the media, embracing the “sensible center,” will now articulate the old GOP position as the “sensible center,” the “common sense” place to be. It will also adjust its reporting of “facts” accordingly, screening out all the facts that would once have made the Democratic position seem reasonable or plausible, and bringing in new “facts” — such as the GOP canard that it was really the Democrats who wanted to shut the government down. What’s more, once the media plays along, it’s a trick that can be used over and over again. One can keep moving farther and farther right indefinitely, pulling the “objective” media along for the ride, every step of the way.
