Those are our Soldiers

I have found it very difficult recently to tune into CNN for my war news. I’ve been relying almost entirely upon Fox News, even though their morning program is frankly child-like. The reason can be summarized in one word – “our,” as in “our troops.” Another comforting word I hear often on Fox, but almost never on CNN is, “we,” as in, “we are 50 miles from Baghdad.”
Those pompous citizens of the world at CNN are loath to take sides in the war, preferring to present the news as neutrally as possible. The writers and editors at Reuters news agency probably summed up this citizen-of-the-world stance best when they defended their reluctance to take sides against even Usama bin Laden: “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.”
I don’t see it that way. Those fighting men in Iraq and Afghanistan are fighting and dying for my family, for my country and for me. They are making a safer future for the world that even the French and the Germans will someday appreciate. And I don’t appreciate the high-minded indifference, expressed best by former CNN anchorman, Bernard Shaw who refused to be debriefed by US intelligence about what he saw in Baghdad during the early days of the 1991 Gulf War. He didn’t want to compromise this journalistic neutrality. He was a reporter to the world.
Apparently, I am not alone. While a few shrill, disruptive malcontents manage to attract front-page coverage, the great masses of Americans are quietly expressing their opinions with their remote controls and are tuning out news of war protests. Media pollsters and consultants and making it clear to their clients: Lay off protest coverage. Frank N. Magid Associates, a very influential media consulting, firm put it bluntly: “Covering war protests may be harmful to a station's bottom line.”
The electronic media, at least, is being forced to adjust to a new reality - competition. Back when there were only CBS, NBC and ABC to choose from, the ideological left-wing homogeneity of network news was inescapable. When CNN entered the mix, under the guidance of America’s premier limousine liberal, Ted Turner, it chose to position itself even further to the left, where it competes with National Public Radio. But with the new kid on the block, Fox News, viewers have a choice that they are exercising with growing frequency.
The Left is not comfortable with the free market and does not understand it. Among the more amusing tidbits of news in the last month or so was the announcement from a cadre of limousine liberals that they would be investing millions of their dollars to underwrite a new liberal talk radio network. Freedom of choice on the airwaves, given to us back in the eighties by the Reagan Administration, opened the door for conservative talk radio. No longer were stations forced to present a “balanced” message. Radio could put whatever they wanted on the air. When Rush Limbaugh syndicated his show, he created a whole, new genre, which has attracted dozens of copycats.
G. Gordon Liddy, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Ken Hamblin, Laura Ingraham and many, many others have followed, filling in every time slot on the radio schedule. Liberals have tried to compete, but simply can’t attract enough audience, and therefore advertising revenue, to keep the lights and transmitters on.
It’s not just that conservatives like having their opinions reinforced by the authority conferred by a broadcast antenna and radio call letters. As one very middle-of-the-road friend of mine once said: “As I listen to Rush, I don’t feel so alone.”
In his early days, Rush would boast about every new station that picked up his show. He would remind of us the size of his audience, now more than 20 million. When one listened to Dan Rather or Peter Jennings, it was easy to believe that conservative views were somewhat oddball. To learn that there were many millions more out there was comforting. Boasting about ratings has become quite common among talk show hosts, probably because consultants have identified this phenomenon.
It is for this reason, as much as any other, that left-wing talk radio will fail. Liberals never have to feel alone.
The news media is no longer an exclusively liberal playpen. Relief from liberalism is only a click away.