Salon: Man Bites Lapdogs! (New James Wolcott Book on Media)

[kskiska]

Vanity Fair critic and new blogger James Wolcott sinks his fangs into the plush hindquarters of Fox, CNN and the media elite.

(snip)

Wolcott's cultural observations and deft vivisections are on fine display in his new book, "Attack Poodles and Other Media Mutants," in which he identifies the insidious form of agenda-driven conservative pundit that increasingly dominates the news business, mapping out their yapping universe. Nobody gets a pass; even seemingly minor players like Fox News contributor/columnist Cal Thomas, who "raised a dyed eyebrow at Howard Dean, a Congregationalist, for having a Jewish wife," suffer from a sharp, swift yank of the leash.

(snip)

What is the biggest problem with CNN right now?
There's no one in charge, and I don't think they know what they want to do. I mean, with Fox, you know Roger Ailes is running it, his whip crack can be heard. With CNN, I don't think they know whether they should be imitating Fox, trying to be more authoritative, or what. Everybody on CNN is overexposed. It seems like you get Wolf Blitzer and Judy Woodruff 20 hours a day. And Larry King. I do like the fact that Larry King doesn't seem to fit in any known universe. It's like, you've got news, news, and then "Larry King talks to psychics! Ask your dead relatives a question! Tonight!"

Well, he clearly has an audience. A much older audience ...
A classic Larry King show: "Remembering Liberace"!

But as big an audience as he has, it's not as big as Fox's, usually. Is CNN just content that Larry's audience is big enough?

I think they are. The thing about Larry King is that at least he doesn't do the harm that Judy Woodruff and the rest of them do. And the "Capitol Gang"! God Almighty, if we could exile them to an island, maybe they would cannibalize each other. During the Republican Convention, I saw them all responding to a Schwarzenegger speech, and all of them went on about how wonderful Schwarzenegger's speech was! I was like, you people went to college, presumably you've studied great speeches in the past, you know something about democracy, and this pathetic litany of Chamber of Commerce clichés -- just because they're done with an accent -- and pathetic things like the "girly man" comment.

And for me, the big question with CNN is, what is Bob Novak still doing on the air? I honestly do not understand how Bob Novak, with all the slimy stuff he's done over the years, is still not only on the air with CNN, but one of their main players. I think it's an inside Washington thing. It's an elite thing, he's been there forever. They all take each other for granted. They don't see how corrupted they've become. And how sleazy things are. To have Novak sitting on "Crossfire" when they're actually discussing the Valerie Plame case!

more…
http://salon.com/books/int/2004/09/28/wolcott/index.html

[Miss Authoritiva]

1. Thanks for posting this.

I just recently discovered Wolcott and have fallen in love. Where has he been all my life?

[kskiska]

2. Finally! Someone has noticed this besides DUers!

There's a kind of a freaky admiration that media biggies have for the right wing; they sort of admire the nastiness. They consider people on the left wimpy. And even though Democratic senators have actually served in uniform, the swagger is on the right. A lot of this is masculine mode. If you look at the way Chris Matthews talks about certain people, he gets turned on by a certain kind of machismo in politicians. It could be a totally false machismo, but that is often what people get turned on by.

[JPZenger]

3. CNN is Being Run by People Magazine

I think CNN News is being run by Time Warner's People magazine division. Let's spend one-third of the broadcast on the hottest entertainment news.

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As noted on other posts, remember that corporate tax loopholes during the Bush years allowed NBC's parent GE to avoid any corporate income taxes on $13 billion in profits, while CNN's parent Time Warner avoided those taxes on $5 billion in profits.