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I mean, I know generally why it dominates the media. But I've been wondering, why the dramatic shift since the election?
Well, what dominated the media from 9/01 until 11/04? Iraq, war and terrorism. Everywhere you looked and listened, the media was talking about militarism. For comparison, from '98 to '00 all the media talked about was buying stocks...and people bought stocks...and people stayed in stocks even when insiders were bailing out. (I have a friend who was going to sell her shares when they were high before the crash, but she saw an interview with a woman on MSNBC who criticized other women from being too cautious and selling when they should be holding -- having cable cost her much more than just her monthly cable bill).
Talking about stocks all the time helped make some people rich, but it didn't help Republicans win the election in 2000. What helped them win the election in 2004 was the fact that the media stopped talking about capital markets (and Enron and World Com and Arthur Anderson) and they started talking about militarism.
What are the most conservative institutions in American public life? The military, marriage and most churches. What helps Republicans win elections? Reaffirming conservative institutions -- ie, encouraging people to look at the world through the lenses of conservative institutions.
For whatever reason, the media has let go of Iraq and has moved on to religion. Perhaps they see Iraq running its course? Perhaps they know that the next Republican candidate for president will not be associated with Iraq the way Bush is (only Cheney and Rumsfield could run on Iraq).
I think the shift in focus to religion is a conscious effort by the media to promote a mood in America that affirms conservative themes, values and models for seeing the world -- it's an attempt to create resonating thought processes that get people to vote Republican and it's consciously substituting Iraq with Religion.
The major media will never strike notes like, say, workers rights, the University, class and opportunity which would help resonate progressive models for perceiving the world. (Could you imagine if all the stories in the news were about those things? Wouldn't it be nice?) However, all the bloggers and podcasters and others do have the power to encourage progressive models for seeing the world...
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