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Electoral Politics Featured Media (Corporate) Politics/Gov US

Why Isn’t the Media Feeling the Bern?

By Z ArticleNo Comments2 Mins Read

Let’s go to the scoreboard to see who’s winning the exciting presidential election media coverage game.

The Tyndall Report, a non-partisan media monitoring firm that has been tracking the nightly news broadcasts of ABC, CBS, and NBC, found that Trump is tromp, tromp, tromping over the airtime of everyone else.

From last January through November, these dominant flagship news shows devoted 234 minutes of prime-time coverage to the incessant chirping of the yellow-crested birdbrain, with no other contender getting even a fourth of that.

Take Bernie Sanders, who’s stunning the political establishment with a fiery populist campaign that’s drawing record crowds. Indeed, Sanders’ upstart campaign is commanding a comparable share of support within the Democratic Party’s voting base to what Trump is enjoying from the Republican electorate.

And — get this — polls also show Bernie trouncing The Donald if they face each other in November’s presidential showdown. So surely he’s getting a proportional level of media coverage by the networks on our public airwaves, right?

Ha, just kidding! The big networks’ devotion of 234 minutes to all-things-Trump was “balanced” by less than 10 minutes for Sanders. Most egregious was ABC, the Disney-owned network. ABC’s World News Tonight awarded 81 minutes of national showtime to Trump last year — and for Bernie: 20 seconds.

How self-serving of the media moguls. The one candidate who is effectively rallying large numbers of voters to oppose the rise of corporate oligarchy — including in the media — has the plug pulled on him.

Of course, this only amplifies the truth of what Sanders is saying about the villainy of corporate profiteers, and it fuels a greater determination by his millions of grassroots supporters to end the reign of greed in America.

OtherWords columnist Jim Hightower is a radio commentator, writer, and public speaker. He’s also the editor of the populist newsletter, The Hightower Lowdown, and a member of the Public Citizen board. OtherWords.org

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Jim Hightower has been described as that rarest of species: "A visionary with horse sense and a leader with a sense of humor." Today, Hightower is one of the most respected "outside Washington" leaders in the United States. Author, radio commentator and host, public speaker and political sparkplug, this Texan has spent more than two decades battling Washington and Wall Street on behalf of consumers, children, working families, environmentalists, small business and just-plain-folks. Right out of college, Hightower went to work as a legislative aide to Texas Senator Ralph Yarborough, a tireless liberal/populist stalwart in a cranky, often conservative state. In the early 1970s he headed up the Agribusiness Accountability Project, writing several books and testifying to Congress about the human costs of corporate profiteering and the value of sustainable, healthy, cooperative farming. From 1977 to 1979, he edited the Texas Observer, a thorn in the side of Texas Neanderthal politicians and a hotbed of first-rate journalism. In 1982, Hightower was elected Texas Agriculture Commissioner and then re-elected in 1986. The statewide post gave him a chance to fight for the kinds of policy and regulatory initiatives on behalf of family farmers and consumers he had long advocated. It also gave him visibility in national political circles, where Hightower became a prominent supporter of the Rainbow insurgencies within the Democratic Party in the 1984 and 1988 elections. In 1997 Hightower released a new book, There`s Nothing In The Middle Of The Road But Yellow Stripes And Dead Armadillos. Hightower continues to produce his highly popular radio commentaries and to speak to groups across the country. His newest venture is a monthly action-newsletter, The Hightower Lowdown, which will provide his unique populist insights into the shenanigans of Washington and Wall Street -- offering subscribers timely information, arguments and language to use in battling the forces of ignorance and arrogance. HIGHTOWER RADIO: Live from the Chat & Chew, a radio call-in show, debuted Labor Day, 1996, and continues to be a success with over 70 affiliates nationwide. This show includes a live audience, musicians, guests, and callers with a progressive populist perspective unheard anywhere else on the airwaves. Updates and more details about Hightower and his projects can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.jimhightower.com.

 

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