The Media's Obamanable Performance and a Business Plan

While exercising in the health club today someone had turned on CNN (when the person left the gym I changed the station to Fox ASAP). Since I avoid the media in general and when I do I mostly watch Fox, I was surprised at CNN's overt bias in Mr. Obama's favor. Jack Cafferty made a two minute speech alleging that Mr. McCain is too old and senile. Perhaps it is Mr. Cafferty who is too old and senile. Worse, there was no counter argument or balancing view to Cafferty's hyperbole. At the same time, the coverage of Obama omitted criticism and was monotonously flattering. When I turned to Fox, I heard a discussion of media bias but the accusations in McCain's favor were balanced by a Democrat who blamed McCain for the media's lack of interest in him. Thus, Fox is somewhat balanced but the other stations are for Obama.

This election may stack up to be a referendum on the mass media. The McCain campaign has produced two ads, and it is asking Web viewers to vote on which one it should air. You can see them here. The first video shows parrot-brained,Polly-Want-An-Obama broadcasters such as Chris Matthews repeating how great Obama is to the tune of "It's Just Too Good to Be True, I Can't Take My Eyes Off of You". The second one repeats the parroting with less music. The majority of viewers think that the first video is better.

This election may be a referendum on the mainstream media. That is a good reason alone to back McCain even though you may be frustrated with the Republicans. A McCain victory will be a blow to the M-S-M, which has been suffering from declining readership and ratings. In turn, a McCain victory would cause the market value of the media outlets to decline. This will make a stock market takeover bid of one of the second tier cable stations easier.

I wonder if it might be possible for a libertarian or conservative to buy out CNBC or MSNBC. These stations contribute little to the national policy debate and have dismal ratings. Fox offers an alternative to the hackneyed, social democratic bias of the M-S-M stations, but it is in some ways a limited alternative. A libertarian-conservative news network might turn out to be profitable. A bit of sex appeal thrown in with conservative views would enable such a station to overtake CNN, crippling the left's cultural hegemony in the media area.

Here is a business plan: a proposal to take over CNBC and turn it into a libertarian conservative news station. Perhaps Rupert Murdoch, one of the Koch brothers or someone else with the resources might be interested in doing this.