Surprise, Surprise. It's not the Liberal Media! UPDATED

Anyone who has followed Glen Greenwald over the past few years knows that the idea of a "liberal media" is overblown. The mainstream media outside Washington, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles IS largely liberal in the sense that it covers a wide range of the political spectrum. Views for and against ideological arguments of both the right and the left are covered pretty well. The Big News Media, centered in Washington D.C., is another story all together. The increasingly conservative slant, starting with the drum beating for war in 2002 has only magnified since.

Whether it's the networks using Pentagon Generals on the DOD payroll as "independent" consultants, or the Washington Post (supposedly the liberal counterweight to the admittedly conservative Washington Times) adding William Kristol to its already long list of conservative editorial writers, or simply shilling for corporate bailouts and corporate business interests, the Washington media knows it's role is to help corporate America fight populism and to rail against so called "socialist" policies of the Obama Administration as the recent Newsweek headline proclaimed: WE ARE ALL SOCIALISTS NOW. This from Think Progress:

PUSHING THE CONSERVATIVE AGENDA: The media debate over the economic recovery has been reduced to one that is hostile to government spending and increasingly receptive to the conservative "tax-cut-only" line. Yesterday, for example, after Obama's press conference, CBS's Bob Scheiffer told Katie Couric, "He's got to somehow keep [Democrats] from loading up this bill with more spending -- so much spending." "As you know, there's a lot of people in the public, a lot of members of Congress who think this is pork-stuffed and that it really doesn't stimulate. A lot of people have said it's a spending bill and not a stimulus," remarked ABC's Charles Gibson last week. "I'm confused as to why we're being tricked into thinking this is a stimulus bill, when it’s packed with welfare programs," said MSNBC's Mika Brzenzski. The list goes on. The Progress Report has conducted two analyses of the debate showing that cable news is helping advance the right wing's message. During the Senate debate, between Feb. 2 and Feb. 5, Republican lawmakers outnumbered Democratic lawmakers 75 to 41 in interviews. During the House debate the week earlier, cable outlets hosted a 2 to 1 ratio of GOP to Democratic lawmakers.

The Washington media are very much invested in the status quo (maintaining influence, power and wealth) and as such are out of touch with the rest of America. Very rarely does the "beltway elite" read or write anything other that what they hear or see inside the beltway. To them, reality is the next inside interview with a power player, or the gossip that everyone else is chattering about.

When the recent Gallup Poll came out indicating that mainstream America is OVERWHELMINGLY in favor of the stimulus package, some pundits were forced to swallow and admit that maybe they had over analysed a bit. Democrats even did a bit of polling themselves and found that:

Democrats looked at 29 districts that Democrats took over in either 2006 or 2009, districts that tend to be swing or conservative districts. Democrats determined that 92 percent of the local stories portrayed the stimulus in a positive light, touting the benefits the spending would bring to struggling local economies.

When we read about the pummelling that President Obama is getting on the Cable News and in the media on Sunday talk shows, it must be realized that the game in Washington is being played by its own rules. The Media Elite does not speak for America, it speaks for itself. I take great solace in the fact that as soon as Obama left Washington and began to speak forcefully for the stimulus plan to Americans outside the beltway, the tide began to turn and it is now the Media Elites that are being pummelled. I view it as significant that the stimulus package is now restoring provisions for infrastructure and education that were cut by by the "in crowd" as soon as Obama shone the light on them to the folks in Indiana and Florida. I only wish he had started talking to us sooner instead of trying to play the "inside" game. Here's hoping he's learned his lesson!

Update 2/12/09

Not only is Big Media largely conservative, but this just in from Media Matters indicates that the very idea of an economist sharing expertise is largely a forlorn endeavor. It is apparently much more fun just to be a screaming talking head.

"Lack of demand: Cable channels, Sunday shows leave economists on the sidelines in recovery debate
Summary: A Media Matters study of Sunday talk shows and 12 cable news programs from January 25 through February 8 found that few economists have been given time on television to talk about the economic recovery plan. During 139 1/2 hours of programming in which the economic recovery legislation was discussed, economists made 25 guest appearances out of a total of 460 -- only 5 percent."