It's becoming increasingly clear that the Right has made significant inroads into what they used to decry as the "liberal media." Thankfully, Media Matters and other watchdog groups keep a close eye on the continuing evolution (devolution?) of American media to the right. One has only to look at a few examples, such as the formerly progressive Washington Post (now one of three right-leaning newspapers in Washington, DC), and media conglomerates that resemble nothing more than "Fox Lite." Take ABC/Disney, for instance, who infamously tried to smear Bill Clinton in their pre-election wingnut fantasy made-for-tv crapudrama about the lead-up to 9-11; their hiring of troubled CNN wingnut Glenn Beck for Good Morning America drop-ins; and their running Pat "Preacher to the Fascists" Robertson's 700 Club on the ABC Family cable network.
With well-funded "think" tanks like AEI, Heritage, Hudson Institute, etc., providing a bottomless barrel of Stepford monkeys to chatter off of RNC talking points, it's easy to see why the Right is looking like it's turning the media tide decisively in it's direction. In fact, other than the invaluable Keith Olbermann on MSNBC, it's hard to identify any regularly broadcast voice of the progressive viewpoint. (Even on Olbermann's network, look at the primetime lineup: Tweety, *ucker, Keith, Scarborough. Balanced? We think not.) In fact, the national conversation has drifted so far to the right since the Reagan years that what used to be called extremist or reactionary is now largely tolerated, if not accepted as legitimate, revealed truth.
Now that Democrats control Congress, it's time for the Fairness Doctrine (scuttled by Reagan's FCC) to be revisited. Otherwise, before they realize what's happened, progressives will have lost the media war to the insufferable, arrogant Rebunglecans.
