The last week has been frustrating to us all. Obama and Biden have slipped substantially in the polls. Even worse, the lies told by the McCain-Palin campaign are often trumpeted through the press rather than properly refuted by it. It is not just that the press ignores its job of being the official fact-checker. It seems that most of the press (or at least the major networks) position their articles to actively support McCain. And the worst part - the Republicans have been very successful in convincing Americans that the press has a liberal bias.
So how do the Democrats fight back against the Republican-owned media? Details after the fold.
The perception of a liberal media has been carefully cultivated by Republicans for years. By repeating the term "liberal media" like a mantra, the lie has become an accepted fact. The charge has allowed the Republicans to avoid having bad news stories stick (after all, it is the bias, not the facts that must be driving the story). And worse - the press has tilted to a more-conservative coverage in an attempt to avoid appearing "biased."
The Republicans are good at getting their talking heads all on the same message, while Democrats have allowed the message to go largely unopposed. Sure, there have been token actions fighting back, but what is needed is a strong, coordinated response.
The first step in fighting back is calling the press out. While Dailykos, the Daily Show and many others have called the press out on their bias, the official Democratic response has been muted. Obama, Biden, Pelosi, Reid, Dean - everyone - should constantly note clear examples of bias by CBS, ABC or NBC. And they must repeat the message every day - throughout the entire campaign. A message is only heard if it is repeated ad nauseum. The Republicans will fight back, but right now there is a tug-of-war in who controls the message and only the Republicans are pulling on the press.
The Republican-led perception that there is a liberal bias in the press has been crafted for a long time. While the Democrats must start fighting back right now, changing this perception is a long-term goal with long-term benefits. In the short run, the perception that reporters have a liberal bias is probably too strong to cancel out immediately. However, one short cut to changing people's perceptions is to give people a handle on which people can change their beliefs. I suggest the term "Republican-owned media."
This term has the benefit of fitting in to most voters' pre-conceived notion that rich corporate owners are Republican. Even if a person perceives reporters as being liberal, they can still quickly find their world-view consistent with a Republican bias in the media because it is the rich Republican owners who decide what stories to run. Using the term Republican-owned media re-opens people's minds to whether there is truly a liberal or a conservative media bias. Once that happens, some clear and egregious examples can be presented that realigns the average voter's perceptions that the press is conservative, not liberal.
So start fighting back. This web site and many others have given the content to prove a Republican bias. Let's start using the handle that allows perceptions to change. Besides, it is the truth - news is controlled by a Republican-Owned Media.