“Cash for Clunkers” Exposes Media’s Anti-Government Bias
BeyondChron: San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily News | “Cash for Clunkers” Exposes Media’s Anti-Government Bias
If anyone seeks further evidence of the traditional media’s profound anti-government bias, consider its response to the enormously popular “Cash for Clunkers” program. If a major corporation had introduced a new product that was such an immediate hit, the media would be trumpeting the company’s entrepreneurial savvy. But when the federal government does the same — as in “Cash for Clunkers” — the media frames the huge public response as a “problem” because funding would end much sooner than expected. From “Cash to Clunkers” to the stimulus package, successful new federal government initiatives are distorted or ignored by a traditional media clinging desperately to the Reaganite view that the government is the problem. This is why the media were the great enablers of the unregulated financial, health, and mortgage industries that enriched the few at the public expense, and why the corporate media persists in skewing coverage to raise doubts about an expanded federal role.
When Toyota introduced the Prius and found demand so overwhelming that it exceeded the available cars, the media universally praised the company for anticipating the public pulse. This is the standard media response to successful corporate initiatives, in which excess public demand is framed as a success, not a “problem.” ...
William Kristol, who helped design the campaign to defeat the Clinton health measure in 1993 and backs an “oppose at all cost” approach to Obama’s plan, also recognizes that the success of Cash for Clunkers causes problems for Republicans.
