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For those of you who have never watched HBO's "The Wire", this is one time the press really has it right (ironically, considering this season's theme). It's the best show on television, they all have proclaimed. And it really is. The show has failed to translate positive reviews into blockbuster ratings, however. This is the fifth and final season of "The Wire". This season focuses the media and media consumption. A major focus would be journalism, which would be dramatized through a newspaper modeled after The Baltimore Sun. The theme, according to Simon, would deal with "what stories get told and what don't and why it is that things stay the same." Issues such as the quest for profit, the decrease in the number of reporters, and the end of aspiration for news quality would all be addressed, alongside the theme of homelessness. A classic line from the first episode of Season 5. "Readers are dumb. They will believe what we tell them," said the editor of the newspaper. Accuracy in Media editor Cliff Kincaid gave his synopsis this week regarding what is transpiring in mainstream media, which is now becoming more exposed during the US Presidential elections.
The AIM editor said
that the
conservative media,
including most of
talk radio, many
bloggers, and Fox
News, have clearly
lost their influence
with the grassroots
and are at risk of
becoming
marginalized or
irrelevant as the
presidential process
goes forward. "From
their perspective,"
Kincaid said, "the
more moderate
candidates, McCain
and Huckabee, are
doing the best, and
the most
conservative
candidate, Romney,
who should have won
Iowa and New
Hampshire, is barely
hanging on. If
Romney, who was
endorsed by the
conservative
National Review,
continues to lose,
many in the
conservative media
may have to throw up
their hands in
despair." Following a heated exchange between Republican Presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani and Ron Paul last May, John Gibson of Fox News commented that Paul “suggested that the U.S. actually had a hand in the [9/11] terrorist attacks.” Cliff Kincaid of AIM: No, what he said was that U.S. foreign policy was a reason why Osama bin Laden attacked America. This is a fact.
When Ron Paul
invokes the name of
Ronald Reagan and
makes the case for
U.S. withdrawal, he
touches a raw nerve.
He is making the
case that if Reagan
were alive today, he
would be against the
current policy on
Iraq. Judging by
Reagan’s response to
the carnage in
Lebanon, Paul’s
point cannot be
dismissed out of
hand. His point
should be debated,
not ridiculed, and
the media should not
take sides. Hillary Clinton may be "Enemy Number One" in conservative news organizations, but sometimes it is hard to tell when these outlets are knocking their own just as soon as they rise up. Mike Huckabee's win in Iowa immediately placed certain media operatives on the offensive. Huckabee, the populist outsider, has quickly been labeled the "Republican Presidential candidate who only appeals to Evangelical voters". If we were to believe everything spoon fed to us by the mainstream media, it would seem as if Iowa is made up almost exclusively of religious zealots who came out to vote in droves. Heading into the New Hampshire primaries, the media reassured us that there were not as many of "these types of people" living in the New England state, therefore Huckabee did not stand a chance. Yet he still managed to pull a respectable third place finish. Since winning in New Hampshire, one would be hard pressed to read or hear a story about Senator John McCain without espousing his appeal to independents and more moderate political views. That might work within a liberal setting, but these subtle nuances are meant to turn the conservative audience watching this McCain "cheerleading" against the maverick Republican. It's a delicate line to walk, however, since McCain could emerge as the only viable and "electable" candidate based on the right wing media's interpretation of "who best represents the Republican party". Presently, prediction markets, which have an uncanny success for being accurate, have McCain winning the Republican nomination. Rudy was made out to be the frontrunner early on by the mainstream media, yet it's hard to focus on the former New York City Mayor when he's getting beaten by Ron Paul in Iowa and just barely squeaks by him in New Hampshire. Then there is Fred Thompson, a favorite among conservative Republicans and, quite obviously, Fox News. A "focus group" assembled by Fox seemed to unanimously declare Fred Thompson the winner. But even though nearly everyone in the room appeared to raise their hands in agreement, individual assessments made the show of hands seem a little orchestrated. A few of the respondents called Thompson's performance "contrived" and, when asked if they would actually vote for him after Thursday night's debate, few raised their hands. Pollster and Fox "focus group" moderator, Frank Luntz, took every opportunity available that came his way to paint a bad picture of Ron Paul. "Who performed the worst tonight?" he asked the group, as if already knowing what the answer would be. A smile appeared on his face when they all offered a unison and seemingly manufactured response: "Ron Paul". Someone must have forgotten to pass around the memo on how to respond to Luntz's question on whether Paul should have been included in the last Fox New Hampshire debate (they excluded the Texas Congressman without explanation). With his trademark smirk already in place, the group unanimously agreed he should have been included. It was as if the puppet master had gotten up to use the restroom at that precise moment and some "Paulite" got into the room to control this group of marionettes. We could almost see Sean Hannity cringing even off camera. Ron Paul supporters are sometimes painted as "conspiracy theorists" by the mainstream press. Ironically, one of the latest conspiracies to come out of that camp is that Fox News may have a master plan in mind to use Ron Paul as a sort of tool that dismantles the Republican candidate pool. Some speculate the only logical rationale behind keeping Paul out of last Sunday's New Hampshire debate was to garner sympathy for him. Such a theory is not so far fetched when one understands the perceived power struggle behind the network. From AIM:
Sean Hannity, the
conservative
Republican
commentator who
takes on such
controversial issues
as Hillary Clinton's
legal work in a
communist law firm,
could be on his way
out of the Fox News
Channel as a result
of Rupert Murdoch's
decision to turn the
company over to his
liberal son James. As for HBO's "The Wire", it's a "must see" for anyone fascinated by how the mainstream media operates and controls what we see and do not see. This season, The Wire's subtitle could be "Meet the Press," as it adds the media to its focus and laments journalists' abilities to do their jobs amid corporate consolidation, writes Mike Flaherty of the Seattle Post Intelligencer. "I'm the last guy who represents Baltimore city," says Clark Johnson (Homicide: Life on the Street), who plays Gus Haynes, a newspaper editor fighting to keep the fourth estate vital. His uphill battle, Johnson notes, "is saying a lot about the decline of individual voices in the media. Mike Flaherty: The death of journalism." That's symbolized by Scott Templeton (Tom McCarthy), a reporter with, shall we say, an active imagination. In true Wire form, all these storylines will be heartbreakingly enmeshed. Sonja Sohn, who's been onboard as Det. Kima Greggs since Season 1, considers the series nothing less than a cultural treasure: "It's served the highest purpose that any art form can, which is to enlighten as well as entertain." Sunday night's upcoming episode is entitled "Unconfirmed Reports". ---- Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher CCostigan@CostiganMedia.com
Originally published
January 11, 2008
10:38 am EST
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HBO
Series "The Wire"
Mirrors Media
Coverage of 2008 US
Election Campaign