NPR, the only radio station I can stand listening to for more than five minutes in a row, is in full horse race mode as mid-term elections near, obsessing over poll numbers, and — what a surprise! — breathlessly advancing the mainstream media meme that Republican and Tea Party candidates are going to win big.
Two short years ago, during the final days of the 2008 presidential campaign, the media — NPR included — pushed the story that the race between McCain and Obama had not only tightened, but that McCain had managed to close to within one point of Obama. You remember that, don’t you? I sure do.
Of course the race hadn’t tightened at all. McCain, all along, was destined to run a distant second, and anyone with an ounce of sense could see that. But the media apparently thought a close race would draw more viewers, listeners, and readers; that the public was more likely to follow a close race than one with a clearly predictable winner. I concluded, in the wake of the 2008 elections, that the media purposely pushed the tight race story, a story they must have known to be untrue, out of self-interest.
I don’t know what’s going to happen in the current election cycle. Based on how the media misreported the 2008 elections, I now tune out most of the political reportage I hear. Granted, my perspective is limited, but I don’t sense this huge right-wing groundswell they keep talking about, just a few loonies making lots of noise. I hope the press is, once again, simply making things up to improve the ratings.
I sincerely hope I’m right.