Defending Those who Can't Defend Themselves

One of the coolest kids I know, Allison Hantschel, has a column in the DailySouthtown about the regular attacks on journalists by folks like Rush Limbaugh.

I agree with Allison (Athenae at First-Draft) in her response to USA Today founder Allen Neuharth, who said he thought the idiotic things Rush says were amusing. As I was discussing with the brilliant and media savvy volvodrivingliberal the other day, the power of right-wing talk radio over the public airwaves is not something to dismiss as only fodder for the weak minded. Rush's heuristic techniques and language seeps into the popular culture on both sides. Some of Rush's phrases become anchor phrases that can frame an issue so that we see the phrase but not the underlying deeply disturbing premise.

What do I mean? Here's one example, Rush constantly calls the media "The Drive By Media"

Now what image does that bring up?

Criminals. People with guns who drive by and shoot people. Criminals who should be in jail, not allowed to roam the streets.

And what race of people are the current drive by shooters?

They aren't white mobsters are they? He is comparing them to the current violent murderers who do drive by shootings. This is his casual "joke". In one phrase he compares the media with cowardly, murdering thugs. And he is never called out on it.

When over 108 journalists and 39 media support people have been killed to cover Bush's war, calling them killers is disgusting and disrespectful of their sacrifice.

Here's part of Allison's column.

Limbaugh and his lesser lights, imitators like Mark Belling in Wisconsin and Melanie Morgan in California, have made their bones on mocking, attacking and denigrating.

Ignoring such slights -- laughing them off -- has led us to what New York Times columnist E.J. Dionne called "the rightward press," in which constant pushing from the right-wing end of the political spectrum so intimidates the so-called objective press that it attempts to pre-empt criticism by feigning docility.

Treating hatemongers and advocates of violence (Morgan memorably called for New York Times editor Bill Keller to hang) as performance artists who shouldn't be taken seriously -- respectfully interviewing them as fellow travelers -- is what has led to this state of affairs in which there is literally nothing a conservative can say that will get him or her in trouble.

Ignoring these people -- acting like they don't matter -- allows their influence to grow in the dark like mildew, unchallenged, uncontested.

Read the rest here (link)

OH, and before she explodes into a flurry of, "I never said that!" Here is the audio proof of Morgan saying "Hang 'em". You will of course note there is no, "If tried and convicted and then found guilty" (which is what she and her colleagues have now be trained to say as there legal talisman after I busted them on their violent rhetoric. Listen here. (link)

Melanie Morgan's history of attacking the press is well documented. Criticizing the media for not doing their job is one thing, saying "Hang 'em" is another.

"Drive by media" is what Rush calls 'em

What does he mean when he says "Drive by media"?

What is Rush saying with that phrase? Simple: the media are criminals. They will shoot you and run away. They are killers and cowards and they are to be caught and prosecuted.

Also, who are the typical drive-by shooters in our current world? Are they 1930's white gangsters? No. When you answer that question you see yet another Rush Limbaugh bias come out. 15 million Rush listeners are now calling people (including excellent journalists like Dana Priest) the "drive by media". Are they really criminals, cowards and murderers who shoot people with automatic machine guns and drive away? No. But that is the association Rush wants people to have.

When you look at how the right looks at and works with the MSM and the left does, you can see a difference.

They want them hanged, we want them to do their jobs. They view them as the enemy and use analogies of killers and thugs to describe them.

The role of journalist is important. Dana Priest, who is one of my new favorites, was quickly attacked by talk radio. Think about what she (and the Salon editors two years before) did on that Walter Reed story. That is important work that will help make changes that will positively impact a lot of lives. (It also negatively impacted a few, but sadly, not the people who continued to let it happen while they were saying, "We support our troops!")

But as Jane Hamsher mentioned, the right wing half wits like to attack the media especially when they are picking on their authoritarian Daddy.



Note: Update for minor spelling edit by Interrobang.