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But we could switch on the 5:30 p.m. network news to re-connect with reality, what was truly practical for the country.
How does "Boxer" fit into all this? He fought back when it was too late. The old horse was being sent to the glue factory. "Clover" screams to Boxer to escape. The horse which was once such a grand exhibit of strength, is no longer up to it. I'll refresh that "Animal Farm" is the classic book by George Orwell. A primer today describes "Boxer" as a hard-working but naive and ignorant cart horse.
I recently exchanged emails with John Ziegler who said "I think you are giving the media too much credit." Ziegler has a prolific media background and these days contributes to "Mediaite." He added re. the media: "They are a bunch of morons."
But Ziegler himself is a quite close media observer. (My email to him focused on stock market coverage along with the new apparent policy across the board of never objectifying women.)
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| John Ziegler |
First of all, thank you Mr. Ziegler for responding. I will retort by saying that "morons" seems an oversimplification and it really doesn't matter because the public "chooses its poison" in terms of media. I am nothing if not sensitive to what the media can do.
I might have even had some delusions of grandeur when I was in the community press. If I was convinced that a certain point of view was right, I could inject such observations into my work. The idea was to be savvy enough to not have it too blunt. (Some people would say I failed at that.)
Let's say I knew the boundaries, albeit blurred at times. Does Donald Trump blur boundaries?
The great David Brinkley said there is no such thing as objective reporting. He epitomized the old, rather paternalistic mainstream media, off-putting for many of us for being self-important, sometimes pompous and boring. Think I'm cynical? People in the business of journalism or punditry will say that boredom and indifference are their ultimate worry.
People react like the opinion movers are motivated solely by the zeal behind their opinions. Oh, it can start out that way. Power can do dark things to people. We're seeing this not only with the commentators in the media, the type who call themselves "conservative," but with the president himself. You should be very worried that Trump lacked background in the craft of politics, yes the horsetrading (no reference to "Boxer"). His neophyte qualities present a danger because how would he handle the roiling vortex of influences all about him, and try to square that with whatever ideals he had?
Trump may have had one or two genuine ideals - I'll concede that. But the presidency is a monster concentration of power. Knowing the simple reality of that, and using skills honed over a period of acclimation to politics, would seem essential. Lacking that, a void of confusion can open, to be filled by impulsive thoughts to try to sell the public.
The conservative media latched onto Trump while the public wasn't paying much attention. These people are in the craft and business of a certain brand of punditry. It is a commodity. And the practitioners have a business sense about it all, just as all professional people do. The consumers miss this fact so easily.
Down the escalator
So let's drift back to the summer of 2015. How spoiled we were, bored maybe but with nothing like a worldwide pandemic. The media labored along in what we might describe as a "slow news period." That would not do, for the professionals. Trump took his ride down the escalator. People were paid to be at his candidacy announcement. By our standards of today with our ridiculously shortened attention span, the scene was novel, captivating.
I mean, Trump was certainly a character, a personality, a novelty, a shiny object. All of which is cute. We knew Trump from TV.
The late Roger Ailes was ahead of his time in understanding the sheer power of TV. The glowing screen hypnotizes us. Which is fine if we have become enamored with our favorite western. "Gunsmoke" or "Bonanza?" It seemed everyone got attached to one of the two. What a different mass culture we had then. At least it was tasteful. Compare to Trump and Jerry Falwell Jr. in 2020. Hush money to a porn star. Let's not review the whole list here.
Trump comes down the escalator and the "conservative" pundits saw an opportunity to salivate, to use this opportunity for "easy content." Trump's celebrity guaranteed an audience. Compare the excitement with, say, Carly Fiorina. She's now behind Biden, incidentally. Didn't Trump knock her for her "looks?" Wasn't there an incident where she fell down and Ted Cruz didn't immediately assist her? And hadn't Cruz announced her as his running mate?
If Trump is objectifying women, I will too. Pam Bondi is a "babe."
The conservative media industry saw Trump giving them a kind of "red meat excitement," to use Ziegler's words. Ziegler saw dishonesty in what was going on. The pundits (deep down) had to doubt that Trump deserved treatment beyond that of a transitory novelty. He could intrigue us until our limited attention span insisted we move on.
The pundits figured we all would move on. In the meantime, they could use the better ratings for their shows. The immediate fix or buzz was priority No. 1 for them. The media people aren't really "jackals" as Jesse Ventura postulated, they are businessmen.
Back in the "Gunsmoke" and "Bonanza" days, we could depend on the pillars of the mainstream media to pull us back to reality, back to what was right. The Dan Rathers of the world were going to assure this, despite the fact that Hillary Clinton vs. Jeb Bush would be the ultimate of boring. Other elements of the media had crept up on the traditional heavy-hitters, the Dan Rather types. The crowded media landscape, the ridiculous contemporary competition for eyeballs, made it hard to withdraw from the shiny object of Trump. Impossible.
Commentators rejected their own senses or instincts. Surely they knew Trump was a clown with no resume. A cynical Ziegler suggested that so many of these souls were "selfish or jaded." They pushed forward, to be rewarded in many cases. Rush Limbaugh ended up with an award from Trump, never mind that media people feel they lose credibility when forming this kind of bond with government. Trump and his people ate it up. Selfish? Jaded? Or just being businessmen?
"Fire" gets out of control
When momentum first built for Trump, the conservative/reactionary crowd was in effect "playing with fire" - Ziegler's description - and may have sensed this. Problem is, naturally, a fire can get out of control. Ziegler observed "the modern news media's conditions were such that those who used to be relied on as firefighters were now pouring gasoline on the fire."
And they of course benefited from it all. But their interests are naturally not to be squared with the public's interests. The Trump cult began forming and could not be restrained.
The old mainstream media with the hoped-for guardrails recognized the situation and I suspect believed they could do something about it ultimately. They had so much power years ago. The public would surely turn to these people like in the past, right? The warning lights went on too late. The mainstream media no longer had the power to perform like before. No, they were like "Boxer" the horse kicking in vain to try to escape his containment, as he was being trucked to the glue factory.
Addendum: John Ziegler is a radio program host, documentary film writer/director and journalist. He built his profile in radio with a show on KFI-Los Angeles, a station you can pick up through the "I Heart" system. Tim Conway Jr. is on the air. I always enjoy Ziegler's perspective and I am humbled that he would communicate with someone like me in "Flyoverland."
My podcast for today (8/28/20)
Thanks for visiting this page and I'll invite you to listen to my "Morris Mojo" podcast episode. It's about the evangelicals and Donald Trump. The permalink:
https://anchor.fm/brian-williams596/episodes/Evangelicals-and-Trump-eiptqp
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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