The MSM Contained (Part III)

The media has proven its independence by going after Democratic as well as Republican presidents. Carter had been president for two years in 1979, when his former speechwriter, 29 year-old Harvard graduate and Rhodes scholar James Fallows, published a searing inside look at Carter’s failing management style (“The Passionless Presidency,” Atlantic Monthly, May-June 1979). Fallows’ articles knocked Carter so off balance he retreated to Camp David for ten days in early July, where he developed a nationally-televised address delivered July 15 that blamed the American people, not himself, for a “crisis of confidence” marked by “paralysis and stagnation and drift.” Carter’s presidency never recovered.

Reagan, an ex-actor highly skilled at using television to reach his audience, was able to bypass the media establishment and run the country from 1981 to 1987, supported by Congressional conservatives. After Democrats re-captured the Senate in 1986, the media's party once again controlled Congress, and held on there even as Bush replaced Reagan in 1988. In contrast to Reagan, Bush was unable to bypass the media, which showed its strength during the 1990 budget battle by forcing Bush to break his pledge not to raise taxes.

In 1992, a poll of top journalists found that 91% supported Clinton over Bush. [www.mrc.org/biasbasics/biasbasics3.asp] Nirvana for such types arrived with Clinton’s 1992 election, since Democrats still retained Congress. But nirvana lasted just two years.

Americans showed their dissatisfaction with Democrats in 1994 by putting Republicans in charge of Congress, ending Democratic control of the House that had lasted 40 straight years. The Gingrich revolution was a blow to the media, especially after Clinton moved right in 1995 to cater to this new power. Fortunately for the media, Gingrich both over-reached with the battle to impeach Clinton and proved to lack the skills Reagan had used to bypass the press.

But with Bush 43’s win in the “stolen” election of 2000, a Republican became president for the 5th time since Vietnam, against just 2 Democrats. From 1968 to 2006, a span of 38 years, Republicans had held at least a piece of power for 32 years. The MSM clearly wasn’t all-powerful.