The Problem of the Media in Sixteen Snappy Paragraphs
Obsidian Wings: The Media in Sixteen Snappy Paragraphs
AMBIENT OPINION
Ambient opinion is what people think when they’re not paying attention, and outside the universities and some urban neighborhoods, the right wing has firm control of ambient political opinion. If you pick your opinions out of the air (from the free broadcast media), your opinions will be conservative. Since elections are decided by the marginal low-information voter, the consequences for liberals and Democrats are deadly.
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OVERTON WINDOW
Somewhere far above our heads it has been decided, probably by Cokie Roberts, which topics are OK to talk about and which aren’t, which policies can be questioned and which can’t, and so on. (For example, the war on drugs is off limits.) Whether from opportunism, incuriosity, or sincere conviction, most people in the media accept this frame unquestioningly, and the ones who don’t, however talented, find their careers ended.