Hardcover
- Product Author
- Brian Anderson
- ISBN-13
- 978-0895260192
- Publisher
- Regnery
- Publication Date
- 2005
- Item Number
- 401SH1907
Description:
For the better part of 30 years, liberal bias has dominated mainstream media. But author and political journalist Brian Anderson reveals in his new book that the era of liberal dominance is going the way of the dodo bird. Arguing that the generation that watches South Park is revolting against three decades of liberal bias in the media, the former editor of City Journal shows the ways in which a new media counterculture is emerging in America.
Douglas French – :
Why don’t the endless conflicts in the Middle East get more media attention? Doubling down in Afghanistan. Crickets. Obama has essentially continued the Bush Doctrine. Who cares?
Brian C. Anderson’s South Park* Conservatives: The Revolt against Liberal Media Bias gives us a clue. Citing an American Enterprise Institute study, Republican presidents receive 20-30 percent less positive economic coverage from the nation’s newspapers.
Maybe MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell can shed some light on this. “The Writers Guild of America, my union, is at a minimum, 99 percent leftist liberal and, like me, socialist.” Oh so you thought lefties were peace-loving. Not when their guy is in office. Taxing the rich and empowering unions is way more important. War is suddenly righteous when a lefty is in office.
Anderson’s book is not a new one, but for those interested in politics, it provides a clear history of the rise of the Fox News Industrial Complex that some commentators say lost the 2012 election for Mitt Romney. Of course the thrust of the book is that the rise of right-wing “peoples” radio and TV will take the nation back from the old school liberal media elite.
Well, eight years of Obama and likely eight more with Hillary should extinguish that notion. As Anderson clearly explains there is big money being a rabid right-winger: Not so much if the candidate is an appeal-to-the-middle moderate.
He devotes a chapter to the conservative book publishing revolution. That’s what running for office is all about. You don’t have to get elected for fame and fortune. Forget changing society through policy. No, get on the Presidential ticket as a potential V.P. and you don’t ever have to run again.
Sell a couple books, become a talking-head analyst on Fox, get your own reality show, and one for your daughter too! Run to head the Republican ticket and you might get a book deal and your own TV show. As Murray Rothbard once wrote, what starts as a movement, then becomes a job, and finally a racket.
Anderson chronicles how this racket got started. There used to be something called the Fairness Doctrine that required if time advocating one political approach was aired, an equal amount of time voicing the opposite view must also be aired.
Providing both arguments made radio stations leery of running political programing. While there were sponsors for right-wing ranters, there was no money to support the leftist point of view. And why should there be, the mainstream media and NPR talks the leftist talk 365 days a year.
This all began to change because of one libertarian. He wasn’t an Austrian economist or elected official. His name was Mark Fowler and was the head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the Reagan administration. He told his regulators to stop enforcing the Fairness Doctrine, believing the law was “chilling to free speech.”
At the same time, the number of channels exploded. Reagan’s second FCC chair, Dennis Patrick, officially canned the doctrine. Those on the left were not pleased. Not to mention Phyllis Schlafly, on the right, who was a fan of the doctrine. Congress voted to make the doctrine federal law. Reagan vetoed it, AM radio was saved, and man named Rush would pave the way to political influence and riches.
The left tried to retaliate with Air America, but lefties just couldn’t put together the same kind of programing sizzle. In the age of the internet, cable TV, podcasts, live streaming, and who knows what entertainment platforms, right-wing AM radio is still rockin’. Not only racking up dollars, but setting the Republican agenda. An agenda that was hammered on election night 2012.
But look at any election map and its Republican red for miles and miles in the center of the U.S. That’s a huge market to exploit and Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and dozens of conservative lesser lights are making hay while this sun shines. Beyond radio and TV, O’Reilly is a best selling author of history books, with two of Amazon’s top 20 sellers for all of 2012.
Anderson’s title mentions the Comedy Central hit, South Park, and the author does include a chapter of irreverent dialog from the show. But the chapter seems out of place. Conservatives aren’t fans of South Park anymore than liberals are. Matt Stone and co-creator Trey Parker use fourth graders Stan, Kyle, Kenny, and Cartman to offend everyone, left, right, and center.
What Rush started on radio, Rupert Murdoch continued on the tube. His Fox network is the cable juggernaut that pushes its “fair and balanced” reporting. “We report, you decide,” is Fox’s motto. But the network is counting on its viewers having already made up their minds that neocon Republicans have all the answers. Anderson spends plenty of time on the “Fox effect,” but forgets what the network has done for news aesthetics. Sex sells, and a Fox telecast is a beauty pageant. All of the other news channels have had to follow suit.
There is little difference, from a libertarian’s point of view, between the two parties and their policies as the Bush-Obama era illustrates. But to political partisans it is blood sport. Even in the conservative southern college town I live in, the Ron Paul bumper sticker on my wife’s Porche nearly caused a parking lot altercation one afternoon.
Jane Smiley wrote on Slate of, “the unteachable ignorance of the red states.” Garry Willis accused Bush voters as having a “hatred of modernity.” On the other side, Laura Ingraham says liberals “take themselves way too seriously.”
The author sees a bright future with college conservatives taking back college campuses. But college kids flocked to re-elect Barrack Obama. Ron Paul did drew thousands when he spoke on campuses but Mitt Romney’s campus crowds could be counted in the hundreds.
Enjoy politics for what it is. As H.L. Mencken wrote, “Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.” Media, political or otherwise, is entertainment. Anderson’s book will give you a leg up on enjoying the show.
Douglas French – :
Why don’t the endless conflicts in the Middle East get more media attention? Doubling down in Afghanistan. Crickets. Obama has essentially continued the Bush Doctrine. Who cares?
Brian C. Anderson’s South Park* Conservatives: The Revolt against Liberal Media Bias gives us a clue. Citing an American Enterprise Institute study, Republican presidents receive 20-30 percent less positive economic coverage from the nation’s newspapers.
Maybe MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell can shed some light on this. “The Writers Guild of America, my union, is at a minimum, 99 percent leftist liberal and, like me, socialist.” Oh so you thought lefties were peace-loving. Not when their guy is in office. Taxing the rich and empowering unions is way more important. War is suddenly righteous when a lefty is in office.
Anderson’s book is not a new one, but for those interested in politics, it provides a clear history of the rise of the Fox News Industrial Complex that some commentators say lost the 2012 election for Mitt Romney. Of course the thrust of the book is that the rise of right-wing “peoples” radio and TV will take the nation back from the old school liberal media elite.
Well, eight years of Obama and likely eight more with Hillary should extinguish that notion. As Anderson clearly explains there is big money being a rabid right-winger: Not so much if the candidate is an appeal-to-the-middle moderate.
He devotes a chapter to the conservative book publishing revolution. That’s what running for office is all about. You don’t have to get elected for fame and fortune. Forget changing society through policy. No, get on the Presidential ticket as a potential V.P. and you don’t ever have to run again.
Sell a couple books, become a talking-head analyst on Fox, get your own reality show, and one for your daughter too! Run to head the Republican ticket and you might get a book deal and your own TV show. As Murray Rothbard once wrote, what starts as a movement, then becomes a job, and finally a racket.
Anderson chronicles how this racket got started. There used to be something called the Fairness Doctrine that required if time advocating one political approach was aired, an equal amount of time voicing the opposite view must also be aired.
Providing both arguments made radio stations leery of running political programing. While there were sponsors for right-wing ranters, there was no money to support the leftist point of view. And why should there be, the mainstream media and NPR talks the leftist talk 365 days a year.
This all began to change because of one libertarian. He wasn’t an Austrian economist or elected official. His name was Mark Fowler and was the head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the Reagan administration. He told his regulators to stop enforcing the Fairness Doctrine, believing the law was “chilling to free speech.”
At the same time, the number of channels exploded. Reagan’s second FCC chair, Dennis Patrick, officially canned the doctrine. Those on the left were not pleased. Not to mention Phyllis Schlafly, on the right, who was a fan of the doctrine. Congress voted to make the doctrine federal law. Reagan vetoed it, AM radio was saved, and man named Rush would pave the way to political influence and riches.
The left tried to retaliate with Air America, but lefties just couldn’t put together the same kind of programing sizzle. In the age of the internet, cable TV, podcasts, live streaming, and who knows what entertainment platforms, right-wing AM radio is still rockin’. Not only racking up dollars, but setting the Republican agenda. An agenda that was hammered on election night 2012.
But look at any election map and its Republican red for miles and miles in the center of the U.S. That’s a huge market to exploit and Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and dozens of conservative lesser lights are making hay while this sun shines. Beyond radio and TV, O’Reilly is a best selling author of history books, with two of Amazon’s top 20 sellers for all of 2012.
Anderson’s title mentions the Comedy Central hit, South Park, and the author does include a chapter of irreverent dialog from the show. But the chapter seems out of place. Conservatives aren’t fans of South Park anymore than liberals are. Matt Stone and co-creator Trey Parker use fourth graders Stan, Kyle, Kenny, and Cartman to offend everyone, left, right, and center.
What Rush started on radio, Rupert Murdoch continued on the tube. His Fox network is the cable juggernaut that pushes its “fair and balanced” reporting. “We report, you decide,” is Fox’s motto. But the network is counting on its viewers having already made up their minds that neocon Republicans have all the answers. Anderson spends plenty of time on the “Fox effect,” but forgets what the network has done for news aesthetics. Sex sells, and a Fox telecast is a beauty pageant. All of the other news channels have had to follow suit.
There is little difference, from a libertarian’s point of view, between the two parties and their policies as the Bush-Obama era illustrates. But to political partisans it is blood sport. Even in the conservative southern college town I live in, the Ron Paul bumper sticker on my wife’s Porche nearly caused a parking lot altercation one afternoon.
Jane Smiley wrote on Slate of, “the unteachable ignorance of the red states.” Garry Willis accused Bush voters as having a “hatred of modernity.” On the other side, Laura Ingraham says liberals “take themselves way too seriously.”
The author sees a bright future with college conservatives taking back college campuses. But college kids flocked to re-elect Barrack Obama. Ron Paul did drew thousands when he spoke on campuses but Mitt Romney’s campus crowds could be counted in the hundreds.
Enjoy politics for what it is. As H.L. Mencken wrote, “Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.” Media, political or otherwise, is entertainment. Anderson’s book will give you a leg up on enjoying the show.
Douglas French – :
Why don’t the endless conflicts in the Middle East get more media attention? Doubling down in Afghanistan. Crickets. Obama has essentially continued the Bush Doctrine. Who cares?
Brian C. Anderson’s South Park* Conservatives: The Revolt against Liberal Media Bias gives us a clue. Citing an American Enterprise Institute study, Republican presidents receive 20-30 percent less positive economic coverage from the nation’s newspapers.
Maybe MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell can shed some light on this. “The Writers Guild of America, my union, is at a minimum, 99 percent leftist liberal and, like me, socialist.” Oh so you thought lefties were peace-loving. Not when their guy is in office. Taxing the rich and empowering unions is way more important. War is suddenly righteous when a lefty is in office.
Anderson’s book is not a new one, but for those interested in politics, it provides a clear history of the rise of the Fox News Industrial Complex that some commentators say lost the 2012 election for Mitt Romney. Of course the thrust of the book is that the rise of right-wing “peoples” radio and TV will take the nation back from the old school liberal media elite.
Well, eight years of Obama and likely eight more with Hillary should extinguish that notion. As Anderson clearly explains there is big money being a rabid right-winger: Not so much if the candidate is an appeal-to-the-middle moderate.
He devotes a chapter to the conservative book publishing revolution. That’s what running for office is all about. You don’t have to get elected for fame and fortune. Forget changing society through policy. No, get on the Presidential ticket as a potential V.P. and you don’t ever have to run again.
Sell a couple books, become a talking-head analyst on Fox, get your own reality show, and one for your daughter too! Run to head the Republican ticket and you might get a book deal and your own TV show. As Murray Rothbard once wrote, what starts as a movement, then becomes a job, and finally a racket.
Anderson chronicles how this racket got started. There used to be something called the Fairness Doctrine that required if time advocating one political approach was aired, an equal amount of time voicing the opposite view must also be aired.
Providing both arguments made radio stations leery of running political programing. While there were sponsors for right-wing ranters, there was no money to support the leftist point of view. And why should there be, the mainstream media and NPR talks the leftist talk 365 days a year.
This all began to change because of one libertarian. He wasn’t an Austrian economist or elected official. His name was Mark Fowler and was the head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the Reagan administration. He told his regulators to stop enforcing the Fairness Doctrine, believing the law was “chilling to free speech.”
At the same time, the number of channels exploded. Reagan’s second FCC chair, Dennis Patrick, officially canned the doctrine. Those on the left were not pleased. Not to mention Phyllis Schlafly, on the right, who was a fan of the doctrine. Congress voted to make the doctrine federal law. Reagan vetoed it, AM radio was saved, and man named Rush would pave the way to political influence and riches.
The left tried to retaliate with Air America, but lefties just couldn’t put together the same kind of programing sizzle. In the age of the internet, cable TV, podcasts, live streaming, and who knows what entertainment platforms, right-wing AM radio is still rockin’. Not only racking up dollars, but setting the Republican agenda. An agenda that was hammered on election night 2012.
But look at any election map and its Republican red for miles and miles in the center of the U.S. That’s a huge market to exploit and Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and dozens of conservative lesser lights are making hay while this sun shines. Beyond radio and TV, O’Reilly is a best selling author of history books, with two of Amazon’s top 20 sellers for all of 2012.
Anderson’s title mentions the Comedy Central hit, South Park, and the author does include a chapter of irreverent dialog from the show. But the chapter seems out of place. Conservatives aren’t fans of South Park anymore than liberals are. Matt Stone and co-creator Trey Parker use fourth graders Stan, Kyle, Kenny, and Cartman to offend everyone, left, right, and center.
What Rush started on radio, Rupert Murdoch continued on the tube. His Fox network is the cable juggernaut that pushes its “fair and balanced” reporting. “We report, you decide,” is Fox’s motto. But the network is counting on its viewers having already made up their minds that neocon Republicans have all the answers. Anderson spends plenty of time on the “Fox effect,” but forgets what the network has done for news aesthetics. Sex sells, and a Fox telecast is a beauty pageant. All of the other news channels have had to follow suit.
There is little difference, from a libertarian’s point of view, between the two parties and their policies as the Bush-Obama era illustrates. But to political partisans it is blood sport. Even in the conservative southern college town I live in, the Ron Paul bumper sticker on my wife’s Porche nearly caused a parking lot altercation one afternoon.
Jane Smiley wrote on Slate of, “the unteachable ignorance of the red states.” Garry Willis accused Bush voters as having a “hatred of modernity.” On the other side, Laura Ingraham says liberals “take themselves way too seriously.”
The author sees a bright future with college conservatives taking back college campuses. But college kids flocked to re-elect Barrack Obama. Ron Paul did drew thousands when he spoke on campuses but Mitt Romney’s campus crowds could be counted in the hundreds.
Enjoy politics for what it is. As H.L. Mencken wrote, “Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.” Media, political or otherwise, is entertainment. Anderson’s book will give you a leg up on enjoying the show.