Don't Touch That Dial!! (Please?)

It's never been far from my mind that the American media is neither liberal nor conservative, but rather corporate. And like any other corporate entity, they exist solely to make money. For television stations in particular, this translates to the eyeballs motive. The more viewers, the more can be charged for advertising, the more money the shareholders and directors make. This explains quite simply why no matter what happens leading up to an election, the instructions to on-air personalities is to prop up the losing side and pretend like hell that a blowout is not in progress.

Think about it. If you're watching a football game and one team jumps out to a 28-3 lead by halftime, the announcers stress how the trailing squad can get back into it. They likely don't objectively believe it, but their job is not to convey their honest opinion or the truth as they perceive it, bu tot beg viewers not to switch over to repeats of Everybody Loves Raymond, or, heaven forbid, turn off the tube altogether.

This is the same role Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, etc etc play in mainstream media political coverage. That's why in the Democratic primary season, despite a nearly insurmountable delegate lead by Barack Obama, the talking heads always pushed the horse race with Hillary Clinton. The more prolonged the drama, the more "Election Night Specials" and the more viewers. This is happening again this fall. Obama has opened up a significant 5-7 point national lead, as well as an emerging potential landslide in the Electoral College. The punditocracy, therefore, must continually find ways to fend off the electorate's boredom with a perceived foregone conclusion.

(Note - I expect Obama to win. Naturally, anything can happen, and I won't be surprised if somehow this all goes to hell. But report the reality now!)

This is never more clear than in the aftermath of debate performances that starkly illustrate one participant's pummeling of the other. Joe Biden outclassed Sarah Palin in their only debate, an outcome confirmed by virtually every poll conducted. As this threatened to accelerate the end of the electoral gravy train for the media, it had to be played down. So we get a ream of print stories about Palin's folksy (read: unpolished) manner and down-home appeal. Nevermind that she appeared determined to overcome her vast policy ignorance with winks and kittenish behavior. She survived! McCain survives! Four more weeks of ratings! Yay!!!

Eisenhower warned against the military-industrial complex, and with merit. Who will expose the infotainment-political complex? Is there any way to liberate the fourth estate from the Ailes/Murdoch virus that infects it?