@npr and @drshow guest this morning portrayed Bernie Sanders as

[Triana]

(and I quote) "a candidate for the disaffected Left Wing of the Democratic Party" - and he was thereafter portrayed as nothing but a foil for Hillary Clinton.

So there you go. This is how the media (and Sanders already has a steep fight on his hands) will help PREVENT Sanders from ever getting to the Oval Office. It's the meme they'll all (or mostly) use. Their corprat owners don't want a Democrat in the White House (Republican Lite is OK).

Don't get me wrong. I'll vote Hillary if she's the nominee - but she is too Wall St and Corprat/wealthy/TPP friendly IMO. So is Obama and I voted for him twice (just so nobody here jumps all over me about saying so).

This is how the media and their corprat puppetmasters marginalize candidates. It's all in the propaganda.

MEANWHILE - every goddamned Republican in that clown car who is running - all 16 of them or so -- are all taken seriously by the same media.

I posted something from Moyers earlier about our national issues with the media: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026745233

Moyers knows that when he's gone -- that's it. There will be no actual journalism anywhere anymore. Because it's just not funded or supported by the big guns. And that means more bullshit like NPR / Diane Rehm had on this morning -- which she could have challenged but didn't.

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. For years, I've shaken my head at the subtle but real rightward slant of that show.

I heard that this morning coming back from Trader Joe....pulled over, tried to call in but didn't get through.

Her show always represents the right, perhaps the center, but rarely if ever the left.

Never forget that ALL of these people are in the money bubble of ignorance. All they want is to keep their money....screw the rest of us.

[Buzz Clik]

3. That is pretty inaccurate.

Diane Rehm is a hard-core liberal. Her guests are always a balance of left and right.

That is the format I prefer: I have no desire to listen to an echo chamber of rah-rahs for our team.

[NRaleighLiberal]

5. Respectfully, I do not agree at all. I listen often and that show sits squarely at center right.

To my ears, anyway...but I am admittedly very far left.

[Voice for Peace]

16. That's also been my observation

I attribute the changes to Koch money or similar corrupting influence.

[Enthusiast]

41. Mine too. That's why I won't listen. I know when I'm being played.

[abelenkpe]

20. Agree with you 100 percent. nt

[Eleanors38]

24. I have seen a notable rightward drift as well. BBC as well has repeatedly...

referenced Frank/Warren as candidates of the "fringe left."

Forty years of pushing Third Way, No Labels, DLC stuff has taken its toll: Whatever the mish-mash de jour, it has become the de facto other side and legitimate authority to Conservative politics; anything else is fringe, the radical wing, disaffected, and only occasionally the Base. I note that it took the Tea Party's rise before MSM even noted a fringe/extreme/right wing quality in the Right Wing. And I recall Jim Lehrer's interview of Jimmy Carter in August of 2004 wherein Carter made reference to the "extremist" nature of GWB and his backers.

Lehrer interrupted, quietly amazed, and asked him if he was using the term "extremist?"

Carter casually answered that he had.

Lehrer was flummoxed. Not because he had any quibble about Carter's characterization, but because he hadn't heard the term "extremist" used by a major political figure, or anyone else in the political dialog.

A telling moment in what politics and the news media had become..

[appalachiablue]

33. The way it is, 40 years in the making. Good for Jimmy Carter, thanks.

[FSogol]

7. Diane is a right-leaning moderate. She puts politeness above ideology, so the RW can tell

respectful lies and she will politely say, "thank you" and avoid rudely interrupting anyone with truthful statements.

[Buzz Clik]

8. Diane Rehm is a lovely person, and I admire her greatly. About her political leanings:

The ONLY place where I have seen her describes and centrist or center-right is here at DU.

Her liberal tendencies are pretty obvious to just about everyone else.

This is an example of her views:

[Triana]

11. Not criticizing her as a person. She often fails to push back on

statements such as the one her guest made this morning. She does push back on other things and I know she can. But on this and fracking and so much other stuff she does not.

[NRaleighLiberal]

12. I think our views of Ms Rehm differ by where we each stand on the political spectrum.

[daleanime]

23. +1

[Enthusiast]

40. I agree.

[Agschmid]

37. This.

[Enthusiast]

42. Nope. Often she won't challenge the most ridiculous right wing assertions.

This is how the Right® has moved the nation to the extreme right. They have accomplished their objectives through a complicit media. Most of us recognize this.

There is a reason they did away with the Fairness Doctrine. It was part of a long term plan.

[heaven05]

25. +1000

on your accuracy concerning the subject. NPR has been going down hill for years and are still on the greased slide to Koch brothers hell. You are 100% correct.

[LeftOfWest]

26. Thank you.

"All they want is to keep their money....screw the rest of us."

There it is.

Agree completely.

[daleanime]

2. K&R.....

[Bluzmann57]

4. Last night at a Sanders rally

I was standing next to a couple that was being interviewed by a local newspaper. They were asked how Sanders would have any chance at winning. I didn't quite hear her reply but I was dying to answer and I really hoped the reporter was going to ask me. He never did. I would have told him that the lazy ass media needed to actually the truth and not make up their own narrative. I really wish he would've asked me.

[No Vested Interest]

18. Letters to the editor are a great means of getting your thoughts

and ideas out there.

LTTE can be used in many instances, not just your hometown papers.
Papers throughout your state, and nationally-read and recognized journals, magazines - are all good venues for putting out your valid thoughts and views.

[gordianot]

6. It has been 12 years since I have donated to NPR.

I supported them when Republican threats to defund them surfaced. Notice they are no longer on the chopping block.

[KoKo]

14. ....!

[annabanana]

31. as always.. follow the money. . . . n/t

[central scrutinizer]

9. Neutered Poodles on Republican laps

NPR lost me in 1999 during their coverage of the WTO protests in Seattle. The reporter on the scene was repeatedly shouted down by the studio host (Neil Conan? Scott Simon?) for reporting that the protests were peaceful and there was a mix of young people, trade unionists, etc. All the studio host wanted to talk about was broken windows at a Starbucks and dumpsters set on fire. All in an effort to demonize and marginalize the protestors.

[Enthusiast]

39. That's bad. Glad I missed it. I love the term Neutered Poodles on Republican laps.

Sometime in 2007 I was fishing beside the road. I had the car radio on NPR. A guy was on there saying the coming presidential election will again be decided in the courts. He was so obviously carrying Republican water. Then, when the host didn't even question his assertions, or ask how he had come to these conclusions, I was done with NPR.

Before that I perceived NPR as the pinnacle of fairness.

[broiles]

10. Remember how the media killed Howard Dean's campaign over a "scream".

[Eleanors38]

27. Like reporters have never been in the locker room of a trailing team at halftime.

[dreamnightwind]

13. I can't listen to NPR

Seems like corporate-approved viewpoints. Since I haven't listened in so long, that might have changed, but your OP describes pretty much what I would expect from them. Sad. They get a lot of money from some seriously bad places.

[AZ Progressive]

15. The Media is ruthless, especially if you threaten its corporate owners

They will go to Goebbels lengths if they need to to propagandize and brainwash the people.

This is why I'm being cautious about believing how far Bernie can go.

[hootinholler]

17. Well the disaffected left wing is going to

Beat that guest's candidate like a drum.

As to DR, she thinks the Cato Institute is the liberal side of any issue, so that behavior was totally predictable.

Remember, first they ignore you, then they mock you...

[Politicub]

19. That's kind of how Sanders is portrayed by his supporters on DU...

As a candidate for "the disaffected left wing."

Then disruptors like the stir the pot around Sanders being a foil for Hillary Clinton. I lump vote withholder threateners into the disruptor group.

So from a perception standpoint, I don't think the media outlets you mention are that off base.

I don't consume enough media to know if every republican is taken seriously. Many outlets that I read certainly don't take them all seriously - just a handful of them.

Is it fair? Probably not, but there is a grain of truth to people pushing Sanders as a foil - whether he wants them to or not.

I like Sanders a lot, and have learned a lot about him over the past week. I have tremendous respect for Warren and O'Malley, too. I try to skip the threads about Sanders that are poorly designed attack pieces on Hillary or serve to only divide the DU community.

[Rex]

21. Sadly it is all corporate news now, not an objective bone in the industries body.

They fear a Wall Street non-conformist. Or I should say, their paymasters fear Bernie Sanders and what he MIGHT do as POTUS to their bottom line.

[Duval]

22. Thom Hartmann was talking about

this today. The media is going to portray him as a "lunatic" much like they did to Howard Dean. Remember the "Dean Scream"? We know that a handful of people actually own our media. Free Speech TV should be available in all homes.

And I quit listening to NPR years ago when they became biased.

[merrily]

28. The media tried ignoring him. Now they are writing about him as though he were running for

Last edited Fri May 29, 2015, 03:30 PM - Edit history (1)

Burlington's grumpiest aging hippie. How many stages of denial will media need to go through before they have write about him as though he's running for President?

[Jester Messiah]

29. I don't know how seriously the clown car is taken...

I think the media is just drawn to the spectacle of it all. There are bound to be some epic flameouts. A lot of those so-called candidates are just in it for the exposure and the book money later.

I still don't think they know what to make of Bernie. He doesn't really fit the mold, but he's definitely a threat to Hillary coming from the left, so that's what they roll with.

[MohRokTah]

32. They'll prop up the flavor of the month like they did last time.

The media thrives on helping to building heroes (Howard Dean ring a bell? they stayed out of his way as he began getting followers), then tearing them back down (increased volume and alteration of sound in a microphone anybody?).

It builds a story and they are all about story telling. Infotainment is more about "reality TV" than it is about news reporting. For reference, see certain new shows airing on CNN (High Profits, Somebody's Got to Do It).

[MohRokTah]

30. The Media creates the narrative.

This is why optics are so important. If the media goes after you, you're done in most cases, especially on a national level.

The media also likes loud boisterous crazy from the right. It's those people especially who consume much of cable media, so they're always going to prop up the crazy.

It's a money game to them. Reporting truthfully and accurately loses money in a saturated infotainment industry.

[corkhead]

34. NPR as a news source started its downhill slide about the time Red Barber died

and they fired Bob Edwards

[Jefferson23]

35. Funny how NPR refused, and outright when called on it, refused to use the label torture for what

was clearly torture as pursued by the Bush regime. That was a no no, but they're perfectly
fine with calling Bernie, "a candidate for the disaffected Left Wing of the Democratic Party".

They expect donations for this approach? I guess they know their audience.

[glinda]

36. There is going to have to be some serious group pushback on these people publicly.

[Enthusiast]

44. I would love to see it.

[Enthusiast]

38. I would encourage everyone to boycott NPR.

They are unworthy of you.

[Enthusiast]

43. K&R! This post deserves hundreds of recommendations!

I hate NPR!