Pizza Diavola

Headline news: A mainstream media outlet questions McCain’s temper! (FT, 2008/04/10) Stop the presses!

Of course, one must keep in mind that the Financial Times is a British newspaper. It hasn’t slid as far downhill as most U.S. mainstream media (MSM) outlets and can still claim to critically examine issues. However, it’s a sad state of affairs that a British paper has more honest analysis of a major U.S. presidential candidate than U.S. MSM, which generally shy away from criticizing McCain. It’s not a quality unique to the British press or the FT; a friend living in Japan tells me that last fall, major Japanese newspapers and news channels were covering the subprime mortgage crisis in detail, while the U.S. media did its best to pretend that the issue wasn’t important, and if it was, Bernanke would magically fix everything for the banks (the homeowners were rarely mentioned).

Now, as he prepares to carry the Republican banner into November’s election, critics are questioning whether his fiery temperament could be a liability as commander-in-chief.In January, Thad Cochran, a Republican senator for Mississippi, said the thought of Mr McCain as president sent a “cold chill down my spine”, describing him as “hotheaded” and “erratic”. James Dobson, the influential evangelical leader, said he could not support Mr McCain, in part because he “has a legendary temper and often uses foul and obscene language”.

On Capitol Hill, his outbursts are part of congressional folklore. One of the most recent came last year when, according to witnesses, he shouted, “Fuck you!” at John Cornyn, a Republican senator for Texas, during a heated exchange over immigration reform. A similar tirade in 1999 cost him the support of Pete Domenici, a New Mexico senator, in the 2000 presidential election.

“I decided I didn’t want this guy anywhere near a trigger,” said Mr Domenici.

A new book, called The Real McCain, claims he once physically attacked Rick Renzi, an Arizona congressman, during an argument. Speaking on Fox News this week, Mr McCain said that this and other allegations in the book were “either false or exaggerated”.

But he has acknowledged in memoirs and interviews that his temper is a source of “personal concern”.

“I wake up daily and tell myself, ‘You must do everything possible to stay cool, calm and collected today’,” he once said.

The U.S. MSM is blind when it comes to McCain. He has a reputation as a principled maverick, even though he’s turned his back on most of his positions during the course of his campaign. You wouldn’t know it, though, from reading the NYT or WSJ, let alone from watching cable news. While comparing recent MSM coverage of Obama and McCain, Wolfrum (Shakesville, 2008/04/03) quotes Chris Matthews, who declared, “Every time I look at a poll–and I expect McCain to win every one of these polls. The press loves McCain. We’re his base.” Ezra Klein (2008/02/23) and Jeff Fecke (Shakesville, 2008/02/23) posit that it’s McCain’s “tough guy” persona that appeals to his reporter fans, and Jason Zengerle (The Nation, 2008/01/07) suggested that it’s McCain’s accessibility to the media.

Whatever the reason, it is a problem when the MSM, the institutions responsible for informing the electorate, are failing to do their job. It’s difficult for me to back this statement up with concrete examples, but I see a general pattern of U.S. MSM not informing the populace. They are not reporting on the platforms and policy issues in the presidential campaigns. Instead, they focus on polls, the horse race, try to badger candidates out of the race (the virtual disappearance of Edwards in the media is a large part of what killed his campaign, IMO; and as for “Clinton should quit,” I’m not even going to touch that one), and cover speech gaffes. They are not reporting on the effects of foreclosure and homelessness when it comes to the subprime mortgage crisis, or the combination of fiscal policy and insufficient oversight that helped land the U.S. economy where it is today. They are not urgently reporting on the need for immediate, comprehensive, broad-based action addressing climate change. They are not critically reporting on Iraq. The Economist, which was advocating a long-term presence in Iraq the last time I checked, nevertheless consistently has better analysis of the situation and possible strategies than the NYT, whose reporting style is along the lines of “Petraeus said this. Bush said that. X people have died. Clinton said this. Obama said that.”

It’s not a problem that foreign newspapers are reporting in depth on U.S. affairs. The U.S. is a large, powerful country, and its policies, military actions, and leadership affect the rest of the world, so it makes sense that journalists abroad would decide that it’s necessary and important to report on the U.S. It is, however, a problem that the foreign newspapers are doing a better job than U.S. MSM, because the quality of U.S. MSM reporting stinks, quite frankly, and that results in an uninformed and ill informed populace. When people are un- or ill- informed, they aren’t equipped with the necessary tools to change society for the better, and they begin to turn away from the participatory democracy. They don’t vote. They don’t contact their elected officials. They don’t know how to influence the people and policies that will affect their lives.

The MSM is enormously influential in shaping public opinion. Their headlines, their sound bites, the words they use to frame issues, all affect how people think. Currently, it is presenting severely slanted views of some issues (McCain as principled maverick), inaccessible “these are the facts, nothing but the facts, no interpretation or explication” views on other issues (Iraq), and eliding other issues altogether (effects of subprime crisis on homeowners rather than banks). That affects us as a society–who we vote for, what we call for regarding Iraq, what social and fiscal policies we deem important. Whether out of ignorance, laziness, or corporate direction, the MSM is keeping us ignorant.

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I’m not sure how long the article is available without registering, which is free. Financial Times, April 10, 2008, “McCain in battle to keep his cool.”