Believe it or not, many progressives sincerely believe that liberals aren’t getting their message out because the media is too conservative!
Take this screed from Michael Tomasky, the editor of the once-prestigious New Republic magazine:
The right-wing media is taking over across the country. This is a crisis on which liberals aren’t nearly as focused as they should be. For 30 years, I’ve been watching the right-wing media grow and grow. And it’s still expanding, at a feverish pace. The people behind this effort are not going to stop until they’ve taken over.
It’s quite plausible that 15 years from now, the only non-right-wing media of note in this country will be The New York Times, National Public Radio, and a couple of the legacy networks, which will be shells of their former selves. (Yes, The Washington Post could easily be gobbled up)….
So that’s one big difference between the mainstream media and the right-wing media: The moguls of right-wing media are not out simply to cover the news. They, and the editors and reporters they hire, are out to change what even counts as news because they want to remake society along illiberal, Orbánesque lines.
Here’s another difference. The right-wing media are far more relentless on the attack. One little whiff of blood, and they’re like sharks to a hobbled seal.
In psychology, this is a classic case of what is called “ projection” – ascribing undesirable feelings or emotions onto someone else, rather than admitting to or dealing with the unwanted feelings of oneself.
