So
much is quotable; my notes are filled with direct quotations.
"TV
programmers would tell me how much they admired me, but then explained that the
programs I wanted to cover were, well, 'not for us.' It soon became clear they
were not for anyone [among the MSM]. (p. xxvi)
To
face the truth head-on is the ultimate challenge, the ultimate sacrifice, the
ultimate achievement. Murrow would approve. Read Schechter's "manifesto" in the
Introduction, which introduces him and his art and craft to the few readers who
may not yet have crossed paths with his popular dissections.
"IT IS 5:55 a.m.
in midtown Manhattan. A slightly overweight, often bedraggled figure is slowly
lumbering in the dark, from bedroom to living room, in a loft he endearingly
refers to as his "Museum Of Pre- Revolutionary Culture." He reaches for the
cable remote. Where is it? Under the couch again, next to a book he's been
searching for? It is here somewhere. It always is.
"He yawns, scratches, and
s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s. It's just about six in the morning; time for the day's first
media fix."
There
follows the first of many media dissections, pars pro toto.
In
the first blog, Schechter portrays Fox News in three simple paragraphs:
"The issues they focus on are carefully
selected by top executives and then broken down into highly politicized message
points.
Their dominant emotion is annoyance as
expressed in sarcasm and scowling; contempt is the underlying attitude.
The other side is usually not just wrong,
but plain stupid, almost unbelievable in its softheaded naivetà © and distance
from reality . . ."
Of
course he is right and the dissection of polarization that follows is so on the
mark my minds spins; but then when he writes
What's
also not always clear to folks on the left is that Fox News positions itself as
an upholder of what are, at bottom, liberal American values. Hence, their motto
co-opting and championing Fairness and Balance. (They actually have more
opposing views on their programs than channels like MSNBC.)
I
become curious and want to experience this phenomenon. As a matter of fact, I
have, and only change the channel when I realize that I'm watching Fox News. Is
this a big ad for Fox?
It
is a fact that Fox gave Michael Moore's Sicko a laudatory review. But
Schechter probes deeper, giving Fox all the kudos it deserves for "[its] real ethos[, which] is
not Republican but anti-elitist--a major reason it connects with so many
Americans and annoys so many coastal elites."
There is courage here in citing
compelling evidence from both sides, killer evidence. The dissector might have
added that in a survey Fox audiences displayed more ignorance than any other
MSM and cable counterparts.
But the finish line is a punch in the
gut:
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