In a recent article by Craig Gilbert, he ponders the changing
perspective on the economy by liberals and conservatives. It seems economic perceptions are reversing. But Gilbert never mentioned this reason why; conservative radio
propaganda.
Jsonline: It seems like only yesterday that Democrats thought Wisconsin’s economy was tanking and Republicans were declaring a new dawn of prosperity. That was during last spring’s recall fight, when a GOP governor was on the ballot. Today, the economy hasn’t changed much, but the politics has. Now it’s a Democratic president on the ballot, and the parties have done a role reversal: Democrats think we’re on the road to recovery and Republicans think the sky is falling.
Why is the partisan perception gap so much bigger today than it was four months ago? Here’s a theory: back in May, voters in each party were conflicted. Republican voters were hearing their governor talk up the economy and their presidential candidates talk down the economy. The gap started when Obama took office and is now bigger than at any time in his presidency, with four times as many Republicans as Democrats reporting bad news.
The reason Republicans voters think the economy is tanking
is because of what they hear on talk radio. The graphs in Gilbert's article easily explains who's listening to conservative talk, and who isn't:
Even though the major news outlets have been reporting on the slowly improving economy, talk radio has been describing it as “on the brink,” “the end of America as
we know it,” and “we’re worse off now than four years ago.” It’s
not true, but that’s the shrill sound on the right.
Paul Ryan perpetuated the fiction of "media bias," without offering one example, on Fox News Sunday:
Ryan also accused the media of having a liberal disposition: “I think it kind of goes without saying that there's definitely a media bias. We've - look, I'm a conservative person, I'm used to media bias. We expected media bias going into this,” said Ryan.
Asked to cite a specific example of media bias, Ryan demurred, instead asserting that most people who work in the media have liberal political affiliations and, therefore, would want a president who is a Democrat to win. “I'm not going to go into a tit-for-tat or litigate this thing,” said Ryan. “But as a conservative, I've long believed and long felt that there is inherent media bias. And I think anybody with objectivity would believe that that's the case.”
The soft squishy coverage from the major news networks is nothing
when you compared it to conservative talk radio’s 90 percent dominance nationwide. Even then, the networks lean conservative simply by never question the factually conflicted rhetoric of our Republican politicians.
Great call, John. And for the second time in recent weeks, Gilbert writes an article about right-wing Wisconsin, and leaves out the poisonous and misleading effect of AM620, AM 1130, AM 1310, AM 1360, and other hate radio.
ReplyDeleteI noted Gilbert pulled the same routine when the J-S was gushing over the heavy Wisconsin flavor at the Republican National Convention. Craig knows his stuff, and his numbers analysis is as good as it gets. So why he does he ignore what is obvious and right in front of him.
Is it because JournalComm owns the stations that Sykes, Wagner, and other 620 hosts are on, and Gilbert knows (or is being told) not to bite the hand that feeds? Inquiring minds want to know.
When you are a Republican and your party has parroted the liberal media conspiracy meme for fifty years it difficult not to beat it to death.
ReplyDeleteNow the Cons also have to contend with the Liberal-Muslim economist and pollster conspiracies. But the most insidous of all is when reality conspires against paranoia and delusion. The humanity!