2005 Dishonor Awards - Media Research Center - The Home Run Strategy

On April 21, 2005, The Media Research Center hosted and presented the “2005 DisHonors Awards: Roasting the Most Outrageously Biased Liberal Reporters of 2004.” The awards were judged and voted on by a distinguished panel of conservatives. The presenters included Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity and others.


Ann Coulter presents an award

The ceremonies included film clips of biased and dishonest "reporting", analysis and other MSM/DNC propaganda. Despite having itemized MSM/DNC's propaganda categories, I found myself surprised at the level of blatantness and dishonesty found in the examples presented at the awards. I didn't think that any level of MSM/DNC propaganda could surprise me after watching the MSM/DNC in action since the Reagan years. Here is one example, the winner of the "stupidest analysis" award:

“Veterans haven’t been a big force in past campaigns... but the Vietnam vets may feel bound together more strongly....It may be too early to know how influential they’ll be in Kerry’s campaign, but they have already done one thing: If the Republicans had any hope of casting Kerry as some Michael Dukakis-style effete Eastern liberal, that’s over. The band of brothers stands in its way.”

— CNN’s Bruce Morton on Inside Politics, January 30.

What makes this example worse is that the MSM/DNC spent the next 9+ months shouting down, screaming at and otherwise slandering this same "band of brothers" when the brothers actually opposed Kerry's candidacy.

At some later date, I will attempt to dissect and categorize each of the entries recognized at the Awards ceremony according to the bias categories. For now, I would like to speculate as to the direction in which the MSM/DNC is headed, based upon the entries from the Awards ceremony. Far from moderating its propaganda, MSM/DNC seems to be increasing its partisanship and bias. The advent of the new media has seemingly radicalized the MSM/DNC instead of moderating it. In the past, the MSM/DNC might have been content to stretch its propaganda campaigns out over the course of months or years, as was the case with the MSM/DNC war against Reagan. But now, MSM/DNC seems to need to hit a home run every time at bat.

The news cycle is constant and no longer confined to 6:30 P.M. on network television. There is less of an opportunity for drawn out propaganda campaigns. By the time MSM/DNC lays the groundwork for subsequent attacks, bloggers, cable, talk radio, etc. can step in and ruin the MSM/DNC's sequence. MSM/DNC can no longer score runs by letting singles follow singles. The new media has made the innings too short and brought in too many good pitchers. The MSM/DNC must "swing away" every time at bat. Each news report will contain examples of bias that are far more blatant than they used to be.

This theory is just that - a theory. [There are alternative explanations, such as our own tendency to notice the bias more so than before because we can use the new media to point it out for each other's benefit.] But if my MSM/DNC home run theory is correct, we will have to adjust our response accordingly. This theory might actually make our jobs easier. The MSM/DNC "home run" strategy might be a sign that the MSM/DNC is desperate and about to burn itself out - although I suspect we still have a long way to go.
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update - The Washington Post, via Michelle Malkin, provides an account from a former NYT writer who says:

In more than 50 years of direct engagement in and observation of the major news media I have never encountered anything remotely like the fear and loathing lavished on us [evangelicals] by opinion mongers in these world-class newspapers in the past 40 days

emphasis added

Is the MSM/DNC turning up the heat? Is it going for home runs at every at bat? We are only 8 months into the post-Rathergate world. It is still too early to tell what effect the new media is having and will have on the MSM/DNC's daily coverage of events.