"The media is afraid to talk about how Right Wing Talk and Sports Radio 'Demonized' Martha Coakley"

[babylonsister]

It is scary that the r/w has such a loud voice out there in MA.


http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/margery-eagan-says-media-afraid-talk-ab

Margery Eagan: The media is afraid to talk about how Right Wing Talk and Sports Radio 'Demonized' Martha Coakley
By John Amato Monday Jan 25, 2010 8:00am

Video at link~


I've been writing a lot about the role Fox News and the right wing noise machine played in getting Scott Brown elected in Massachusetts. Margery Eagan, a Boston Herald reporter (who supported Coakley) told Howard Kurtz that right-wing talk radio and sports talk radio demonized Martha Coakley endlessly. This was a big part of her fall after she held a 31-point lead in MA.

CNN's Reliable Sources:

On Boston newspapers’ coverage of the Massachusetts Senate race

EAGAN: Well, she got very good press from "The Boston Globe," not from my paper, "The Boston Herald." But you know something? People don't like -- TV journalists and newspaper journalists do not like to talk about the influence of talk radio. Let me tell you something. There was a nonstop hammering of Martha Coakley on the AM stations here, on the huge sports stations here. She was the evil incarnate and Scott Brown was the next coming. And, you know, the New England Patriots in the playoffs lost early on. It was as if there was this transference from Tom "Terrific" Brady, the quarterback of the Patriots, to Scott "Terrific" Brown. You look at the rallies for Scott Brown, they were very white, they were very suburban, they were Gillette Stadium fans, and there was almost this...

KURTZ: But just briefly, did you mean to say earlier that "The Boston Globe" tilted towards Democratic candidate Martha Coakley, and your paper, "The Boston Herald," tilted towards Scott Brown in the news coverage?

EAGAN: Well, I would say my paper was pretty much cheerleading for Scott Brown. We're the conservative paper in town, and The Globe, I think, was -- they were evenhanded somewhat, but I think that they were definitely cheerleading for Martha Coakley, absolutely. They're the liberal paper in town. That's the way it always is.

I cover the sports media on C&L all the time because I think it's important to show how they act like the Beltway media elite -- they have their own Village. And their political reach is greater than people think, because the sports talkers are uniformly right-wing and they love to bash liberals, just like their "opinion show" counterparts. Locally, AM right wing hate talk radio does play a major role in the GOP propaganda battles and it worked very well for them in Massachusetts.

Eagan names what the media elites will dare not: the actual influence right-wing talkers have in America. Good for her.

[liberal N proud]

1. The media sees nothing wrong with what they do

They are an instrument of propaganda and have no problems with their role in politics.

David Gregory on Sunday was giddy with excitement over the topics of discussion he had from the previous week. They are gleeful that their agenda is taking shape, taking down the Democrats and then Obama.

They feel redeemed from the 2008 losses and the republican infighting that has taken place over the last year.

[Armstead]

2. Disgusting for sports radio to be talking politics

[onehsaquestion]

4. When you don't know who Curt Schilling is, it's going to happen.

There's no way Boston sports radio doesn't rip her a new one over that gaff.

Again, candidate's problem that she's trying to pin on everyone but herself.

[Armstead]

8. Well, for that one maybe, but hammering right wing talking points is wrong

[onehsaquestion]

3. It's a good thing the right wing talkers weren't around when Obama got elected...

...or during the shift from complete control by the Republicans to the Democrats......wait.......what?

Coakley was a terrible candidate, period. Her people have used every excuse in the book other than their own ineptitude.

[rem3006]

6. That, and people

were pissed at the Democrtic establishment in Mass. Not pissed at the party, just pissed at the state leadership establishment. Same thing is happening to our frieds in the Republican party. They are not liking the establishment Republicans and their worn out ideas and attitudes of entitlement. Remember their 240 page "alternative" to health care? 240 pages of 'medical savings accounts'. WTF!!?? The party that runs guys like Scott Brown who carves his way through issues instead of the "all or none" approach will win this coming November because thats where the bulk of the voters are right now. Brown is living proof of that. The guys who go for unrestricted gun ownership is just as endangered as the one who will only accept unrestricted abortion.

Republican establishment leaders are doing a repeat of NY by annointing their candidate against the wishes of the rank and file. It's happening right now in Illinois and Virginia and they will lose two opportunities to take offices from Democrats just like Coakley lost a gimme in Mass. Of course she did a lot of it to herself but still.

[wisteria]

10. There was more to this than just the campaign. She became the victim of RW radio.

Her campaign was doing fine until the local and national Republicans smelled blood and got involved. Fox New and other national RW radio outlets had no right to get involved in a local election. Brown received a lot of national air time and had a lot of help from a natiional electorate who was pushing for his election. Um, I don't recall MSNBC or even CNN getting so involved in this election and providing a national outlet for their candidate of choice.
People are so easily maniputated. Many people in Massachusetts became sheeples during this election-brainwashed by jocks and RW radio.

[madrchsod]

5. before we had liberal am820/fm92 in chicago...

the only "liberal" talkers were two sports guys on am 670. i listened to them the other day and they are still liberal.

right wing radio attracts brain dead listeners and steel building advestisers...

[howaboutme]

7. Pro sports BS

I no longer waste my time watching pro sports. Seeing these rich team owners and overly compensated players basking in the glory of tax payer hijacked and funded stadiums and arenas, irritates the hell out of me.

Pro sports is about keeping the media enriched and the ultra elite rich by using taxpayer money to build their places of business. But most importantly it is about keeping the masses deflected and uninformed about how badly they are being screwed by the elite.

That's what Martha Coakley should have said when asked about Fenway. When people ask me about this player or that player that's what I say and surprisingly many agree wholeheartedly.

[wisteria]

9. It sounds like Western Pa where I live. RW talk radio needs to be countered

and balanced out. But, we have tried Air America and that did not work. It really is a concern that so much going out over the talk radio airwaves is anti-liberal and always seems to have a Southern or sports jock air about it. Where is our representation? Martha Coakley was well qualified for the senate position and although she did not run an engergenic campaign it was never thought she would have to. But, when so much was made out of the gaffe or lack of knowledge about Curt Shilling and the Boston Red Socks,it appeared this jock knowledge and the ability to have a beer with someone comfortable became a prerequisite to being qualified to be a Massachusetts senator.I feel sorry for Coakley, she never had a chance once Fox News and talk radio nation wide got involved in this election and treated it like a national election rather than a local one. This Scott Brown win was a win for Right Wing media outlets and it is scary because it appears we have very little to counter or to fight back with in regards to the message.