In as much as politics is entertainment these days, I want to discuss news commentators and the news media. I was motivated to do so by an article in TIME online. They were discussing Glenn Beck. Yeah, that guy.
For those that hate FOX News, and/or anything to the right, I ask you to keep reading and not zone out. For those that hate the left, do the same.
I’ve written about Glenn Beck before. On my political blog site. I have differences with many of his views, but at the same time he must be given credit for being dead-on with several issues. Van Jones was one, so is the current and growing ACORN situation. TIME notes both of these things.
But TIME meanders eventually to the question of if Beck is just there for the money, and playing both sides against the middle? Which is an important question, but not just for Beck.
Right now, politics and cable news coverage are huge business. Unlike years past where it was something more centralized to election cycles, or newspaper subscriptions, today politics is divided to channels available 24/7. Which is definitely helping to divide the nation, and occasionally inform.
Whether Glenn Beck is independent, or to the right does not matter. Whether FOX is right of center or just right of the rest of the media does not matter. They are all in it for the money. Which TIME is in it for as well. So to question the financial success of ANYONE in the media is stupid. None of us, including me (you did click on my advertisers or checked out my store, right?), do this simply for the good of our hearts. We want to be paid as well.
That is the American way.
The bigger question though is if the money is the goal or the means. Yes I want to make money, but I don’t write with that in mind. I write what I believe, and I think most pundits do the same. But in reading the TIME article you would think they are the only ones in the media that do it just to give away every dime. Which is laughable.
Let’s look at things as they are. We have a President that is not what he campaigned as (love or hate him for that as you will). We have an economy that is sour, and not likely to improve anytime soon. We have massive amounts of corruption in both Parties in Government. And the concerns of Joe Average seem the most far removed from politicians in my life (41 years).
Keith Olbermann, Beck, Bill O’Reilly, Chris Matthews and a host of others make millions because of this environment. But is that the goal? Or is it that each of them has a strong belief in what they say, and have no problem making a living from that conviction?
TIME seems to think that it’s all about the money. At least mostly so for Beck. Though they don’t mention their own revenues. Thus making their article useless, except for a subtle bashing of Beck, who has coincidentally scooped them and the rest of the media on several critical issues.
TIME mentions in the article that polls show America has the least trust in the media than perhaps ever before. And there is good reason for it. The Obama Stimulus was passed without being read and the majority of the media let it go. Van Jones made multiple radical accusations, after gaining a high political office, and the majority of the media didn’t blink. The President has made a health care policy that has no definition, and the majority of the media has not asked for details. And most recently, >ACORN has been exposed via the work of 2 amateurs and the majority of the media is just paying attention that this might be serious (a week after the fact).
Do I have a problem with the media, in particular news commentators like myself, focusing on issues they most agree with? Not at all. Do I have a problem with the same people getting paid for it? Obviously not. And of course I may be biased on this.
But I have a massive problem with the major media ignoring issues that are blatantly incidents that deserve national attention. I have a problem with anyone being paid for a job, reporting the news or commenting on it, and then not doing that job. Or worse being hypocritical.
I have yet to see coverage in TIME about the systemic bias in the legal system that continues to exist today. There was no coverage of the Megan Williams case, Oscar Grant, ACORN - the recent trouble garnered 1 article after the Senate vote but focused on past voter registration problems - and so on. For the life of me I cannot imagine why.
So TIME may wax and wane on the success of conservative pundits (with minor comments on Liberal pundits), but their job is to cover the news. Not Glenn Beck and his success, but the national news. He is doing his job – like it or not. TIME needs to do theirs.
No wonder so many find the news media to be so useless. It’s not just politically polarized, it’s stuck its head in the sand to the issues that are the core of its existence.
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