[OPE] Leftwing headwinds in the commercial media?

.. the media currently tilt leftward in the US, but not for the obvious reason. It says less about the bias of "liberal elite" journalists and more about a breakdown of the established media order, from The New York Times to Mr Drudge. (...) All this, and falls in advertising and circulation, is pushing newspapers back to a scrappier, more plain-spoken and partisan "yellow press" past. Instead of soberly trying to filter all information with a careful "on the one hand, on the other hand" balance, they are becoming more colourful in tone and politics. (...) Just as Fleet Street swings left and right politically, depending on where it sees its commercial advantage, the US media have shifted left for a time, to mimic what they judge to be the country's mood. When that mood swings back, so will the media.
Complete story: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6e6628f2-a5ef-11dd-9d26-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

The Boston Globe, not especially known for leftwing philosophies, for example has this editorial:

THE CRISIS roiling Wall Street has led to calls for a new type of capitalism, presenting a real opportunity for positive and productive changes. What would market capitalism 2.0 look like? To start, it would pay more attention to fairness. It would also guarantee that full-time workers don't live in poverty. Finally, it would offer an enhanced safety net. http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/10/30/a_new_type_of_capitalism/

Reuters reports for example that:

Neil Young has scrapped a Los Angeles concert scheduled for Thursday out of respect to a planned union picket, representatives for the veteran rocker said. The show was set to take place at The Forum, an indoor arena whose striking workers are engaged in a contract dispute with the venue's owner, Faithful Central Bible Church. Since Young and his wife Pegi are honorary lifetime members of the workers' union, the Intl. Assn. of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), he decided to scrap the show rather than cross their picket line.
Complete story http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE49T2M520081030

Also, Reuters reports that:

If a woman wants to drive the men wild, she might want to dress in red. Men rated a woman shown in photographs as more sexually attractive if she was wearing red clothing or if she was shown in an image framed by a red border rather than some other color, U.S. researchers said Tuesday. The study led by psychology professor Andrew Elliot of the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York, seemed to confirm red as the color of romance -- as so many Valentine's Day card makers and lipstick sellers have believed for years. Although this "red alert" may be a product of human society associating red with love for eons, it also may arise from more primitive biological roots, Elliot said. http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE49R18320081028

You might say, with debts piling up in the world, being in the red is trendy. Or, that this is actually the most favourable political climate for the Left, in the sense of being able to put across arguments to a mass audience. Only thing is, that I do not see all that much of it happening in the commercial media, fashions aside. Oddly, "unrepentant Marxist" Louis Proyect reflects gloomily about "the small sector of the universe that still takes the idea of socialism seriously". Perhaps it is, that if you are too deeply buried in the intricacies of your own pet doctrines, you overlook what is really happening in culture at large.

Jurriaan

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Received on Thu Oct 30 16:58:18 2008