Battlegrounders
[ home | archives | email ]

MICHIGAN: STATE MSM & DEMS [Henry Payne 10/22 11:57 AM]

The president of one of Michigan's top polling firms has been in the polling business for 20 years. Ask him what has changed and the media tops his list: journalism has become increasingly partisan and relentlessly negative towards Republican candidates, creating a skewed environment in which candidates can address issues.

Sure enough, when Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm was asked this week why voters should reject George Bush, she pulled out a list of recent media headlines: "the deficit larger; the Dow dropping; unemployment claims up, hitting an all-time high; GM profits below expectations; with health claims crippling profits; flu vaccine in short supply; oil prices rising. "

To say that this media view of the world's most vibrant nation is distorted would be an understatement, not to mention factually untrue. The deficit — at 4.8 percent GNP — is nowhere near the 110 percent-of-GNP deficits in the wake of WWII, much less the eight percent deficits of the 1980s; unemployment is below what it was when Bill Clinton was re-elected in 1996, etc. But Democrats rely on this media drumbeat to portray a nation — and battleground state — headed in the wrong direction.

To counter this liberal spin, a parallel media universe has matured in Michigan, much as it has elsewhere in the country. Michigan network affiliates echo their liberal New York brethren, and the state's largest newspaper, The Detroit Free Press is liberal, but on WJR talk radio, a bevy of conservative talents attract tens of thousands of listeners every day. Frank Beckman, a populist conservative, is the most influential voice on Michigan morning radio, and he is followed by nationally syndicated superstars Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity in the afternoon and evening.

Still, liberal "mainstream" media's numbers dwarf the conservative alternatives, and that is a plus for Democratic candidates here.