Government by Media

Jay Nordlinger over at the Corner says that the ghost of Spiro Agnew is in the air. Somehow, I don't feel all that bad about his return. Conservatives, spitting mad over the cable news and tabloid devouring of Sarah Palin, have turned on the media. And, true to form, the media smiles and rolls out the usual cliches about "attacking the messenger" and "we're just doing our jobs." Governments have constitutions to govern them. What self-government does the media have to control their excesses?

Vice President Agnew pushed back:

A raised eyebrow, an inflection of the voice, a caustic remark dropped in the middle of a broadcast can raise doubts in a million minds about the veracity of a public official or the wisdom of a Government policy. One Federal Communications Commissioner considers the powers of the networks equal to that of local, state, and Federal Governments all combined. Certainly it represents a concentration of power over American public opinion unknown in history ...

Of the commentators, most Americans know little other than that they reflect an urbane and assured presence seemingly well-informed on every important matter. We do know that to a man these commentators and producers live and work in the geographical and intellectual confines of Washington, D.C., or New York City, the latter of which James Reston terms the most unrepresentative community in the entire United States.

Both communities bask in their own provincialism, their own parochialism...

Gresham’s Law seems to be operating in the network news. Bad news drives out good news. The irrational is more controversial than the rational. Concurrence can no longer compete with dissent...

Peggy Noonan is right -- Bubbleheads all!