Toronto Globe and Mail: "The Media Disappeared Howard Dean"

[Minstrel Boy]

Good column by Rick Salutin today, on the media's silencing of Dean:


Has anybody else noticed the disappearance of Howard Dean from U.S. presidential politics? Maybe someone caught it on a surveillance camera in a mall. The figures who hustled him away were wearing media badges.

Why did they have to get him out of there? Because he was being disruptive. Not wrong exactly, but too loud, spoke out of turn, the sorts of things one doesn't say in mainstream politics. The equivalent of belching or farting in public. The media are the ushers and security guards of politics. They maintain decorum.

For example: Howard Dean said the Bush government "capitalized on domestic fears of terrorism for political gain." Wow. That suggests it manipulated 9/11 for the sake of its own agenda. Millions of Americans may believe this (consider the huge sales of Michael Moore's books) and Bush officials such as Paul Wolfowitz did yearn publicly for "some catastrophic and catalyzing event, like a new Pearl Harbour." But the charge is still taboo in mainstream discourse. It makes almost all that was said and done since 9/11, including po-faced media coverage of the noble ideals behind the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, sleazily suspect.

...

How did the media do it? By telling scary stories, mostly about Howard's ugly temper, as decision time drew near.... But as anger repels some, it attracts others. It can even be a relief, especially when conflict is being suppressed or denied. So why does it get suddenly invoked as an overriding negative? I mean, why not suddenly focus on George Bush's ease in approving 152 executions in his six years as Texas governor, often with a smirk or a joke? It rings a little of the race in 2000, when Senator John McCain's mental balance became an issue just as it seemed he might beat out then-governor Bush. "Electability" also vaulted suddenly into the coverage in the weeks before Iowa caucused, along with the question: Is Howard Dean "acceptable" to the U.S. mainstream? I do sometimes wish the media elites would allow the masses to define for themselves what they will accept.

more:
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040206/COSALU06/TPColumnists/

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. They know more about PNAC in Canada than they do here.

I think that answers the question about Dean getting Deaned. It's not by accident, folks.

[LuminousX]

2. Shhh... you say this because you are whining and have sour grapes

there can't be any truth to this. Nope. No way. No how.

[Ripley]

3. And don't forget the media is AWFUL towards Kerry...just awful.

NOT. They pretty much kiss his fricking ring on his hand now...

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

7. Just yesterday, I heard the media call him

the "presumptive nominee." I'll be shocked if he can weather attacks like that for long!

[Ripley]

8. And what percentage of primary voters have had their say?

Isn't it like 10%? Sounds familiar doesn't it...declaring someone the winner before everyone has voted...

[edzontar]

11. Not nearly enough.

nt

[denverbill]

33. Well, how many ketchup commercials does Dean buy anyway?

Why should the media bite the hand that feeds it?

[CWebster]

4. And what is so pressing and obvious to us -

takes forever to penetrate through sound bites and media spin that achieves it's purpose in short order and moves on. How long have so many of us known the entire Iraq quagmire was built on a foundation of sand, and yet the wheels turn painfully slow - and in the meantime people die and there is continued human suffering and no accountability.

[stickdog]

5. I guess it's OK to write this in other countries. (nt)

[BootinUp]

6. The Title reminds of a twilight zone episode

Unfortunately this is reality TV.

[PatrickS]

9. Yep. Good column

It so obvious that the US media decides who becomes the presidential campaign. It's quite shocking when you think about it. I'm glad we Canadians can still read articles like this, even if it's in the Globe & Mail

[edzontar]

10. The truth gets out--but only in Canada....

nt

[George_Bonanza]

12. The media always attacks the front runner

Or was there a crusade to stop that anti-corporate loose cannon Al Gore?

[dsc]

13. so where are the attacks on Kerry?

[Ripley]

14. Do you understand that post?

I don't. Maybe he has one of them thar special TV's that gets the "special" news on Channel Z.

[George_Bonanza]

31. Go to news.yahoo.com or turn on CNN

They'll usually bring up Kerry and his funding mishaps, or alleged funding mishaps.

[mopinko]

15. move along

nothing to see here. war is peace.

[Gin]

16. the media whores who have sold their souls to the devil for a dollar...

have job security for a while.

Dean started something good that won't go away. Many, like myself, who want a change in the way government is run in this country,who want new innovative ideas brought to the table, want Dean.

That may not happen..the messsenger may change..but the message will rise again.. and get stronger and stronger.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

17. I hate to say it but Dean used to get all the attention. Cover of Time

and Newsweek a couple of times and it was mostly positive. He recieved over 3 times the amount of coverage than all the other candidates put together for several months. During this time Clark, Kerry and Edwards couldn't even get arrested....

[LuminousX]

19. I agree, Dean was over-exposed

but really that was because his story was interesting. Quite honestly, the media was hoping for something really entertaining to happen to Dean, so they did everything to make him a celebrity, built him up so he could take a great fall. When the fall didn't come, they turned the screaming speech into some sort of wild-eyed rant and made sure it got maximum exposure.

They got their entertainment value and now are returning to the scripts they previously wrote when Kerry was the original heir-apparent.

[zwielicht]

24. can you tell the difference?

and

vs.

and and "doubts about dean" (newsweek cover)

[SeattleRob]

25. Quite a difference....

Thanks for showing the contrasts of the covers. There are definite editorial decisions going on here. It's too bad that so many people are blinded by all of this.

[LuminousX]

28. "Destiny or Disaster" vs. "What kind of President would John Kerry Be?"

One is worthy of a newsmagazine, another is worthy of Tiger Beat.

[George_Bonanza]

32. Here's a nice Dean cover for you

[chocolateeater]

36. I'll see you your August cover of Time, and

raise you this January cover of Newsweek

Hey! One favorable magzine cover out of four isn't bad.

[zwielicht]

43. the visual contrast of all the covers impresses me most (nt)

[formernaderite]

35. Thanks for posting those....

...it shows exactly the vantage point the media was trying to promote. Fairness my ass.

[NashVegas]

38. cover of Time

You can't buy publicity like that - and who would want to?

[Armstead]

18. Totally dead-on column

Whoever your candidate is, it is despicable how the media has stolen the pollitical process.

I'm not a Kerry fan (to say the least) but the buzzards were picking at his bones prematurely too. The fact that he "came out of nowhere" to rebound did not reflect the obvioous fact that he was not as dead as the "conventional wisdom" said.

Likewise, Dean is not as crazy or as radical as the press has painted him. And now that he's down, God forbid his positions and statements should be allowd through the filter.

And let's not even talk about Kucinich. My God an honest to goodness Liberal populist. Gotta keep him hidden in the basement.

The media are whores and arrogent idiots. And unfortunately they hold the keys to politics today.

[Michael Harrington]

20. Gephardt started this by wounding him in Iowa, but...

He's been dropped like the proverbial hot potato since then. A lot has to do with the fratboy zeitgeist deciding he was a loon, no argument permitted, but eventually, the fact of the matter is he scared a lot of people, from Bushites to McAullife and his wretched gang, who (like George Meany and his ilk back in the day) would rather lose a process they control than win one that's less predictable.

Yet another good Democrat sent careeening toward the ditch.

[CWebster]

22. nice... nt

[progressivebydesign]

27. We just can't have real live humans running for President..

..last the media, the DNC, and GOP let that happen they got Clinton. A governor from a non-glaring state out of nowhere trounced the safe bets.. the "electable" ones.

[Fleshdancer]

21. well, you can't vow to "break up giant media enterprises" and...

...get away with it these days, can you?

Sometimes I wonder where Dean would be right now if he never had that conversation on Hardball.

[sandnsea]

23. Clark and Edwards have won

They should be getting the media, not Howard. And who did I see on CNN this morning? Howard.

[progressivebydesign]

26. So Brilliantly put.

Do we have ANY journalists left in America?

[stickdog]

29. Quite obviously not. (nt)

[Eloriel]

30. No, but we do have people who play them on TV n/t

[NashVegas]

40. Ask the Canadians

they might say yes.

[George_Bonanza]

34. The media helped Dean greatly

Gave me three covers, ample air time about his revolutionary campaigning and great funding success, his great endorsements, etc. All the while, they ignored Kerry, ignored his great endorsements, tried to make his IWR stance look inconceivable, and usually showed him as a tired has-been to the jubilant heir apparent, Howard Dean. And like all things, his gaffs were too hard to ignore for the media. Once they contributed in making him the clear front runner (he had forty million compared to Kerry's twenty, and he led Kerry in NH by FORTY points), there was nobody to attack but him. Do you know why the media was more negative on Dean than anybody else? Because there was NOBODY else. Can you honestly tell me that the media should've spent time on Kerry's campaign, which was trailing Dean in money and popularity, when there was the great Howard Dean, backed by Al Gore and Tom Harkin? Kerry only started getting media attention because of his improbably victory in Iowa. If the media truly wanted to bring down Dean and usher in the evil Kerry, they would've been JK some more time right before Iowa. Remember the Scream was after Dean lost huge in Iowa. Did the media somehow become seers?

Ironically, it was media hype about the inevitably of Dean's candidacy that probably led people like Gore and Harkin (who is a Gephardt man) to jump on the Dean bandwagon.

[stickdog]

39. When they attacked Dean, they almost never attacked him in the context

of how the other candidates -- including Bush -- would stand up to the same sort of scrutiny.

But now, every attack I see on the new front-runner Kerry is put in this exact context that was always missing (at least in the headlines and first few paragraphs) before.

Why? Why isn't Kerry getting Deaned NOW?

[George_Bonanza]

42. He will

And you will eat crow. Dean got a good ride from the press for months, getting free air time while he attacked his opponents and Kerry looked dead.

[Straight Shooter]

37. My pet peeve: "The Scream" -- How about a "Rebel Yell"???

It ain't about what it is, it's about what you call it.

Remember, adult diapers are called personal incontinence aids, not diapers.

[stickdog]

41. kick (nt)