Friday, December 23, 2011

Control the news, control the narrative

From The Raw Story:
The incident occurred mere moments after the House went into session. Hoyer made a motion for a vote on the Senate’s payroll tax cut extension, which would extend the lower rates for another two months, but the Republican presiding over the House did not acknowledge the motion. He instead adjourned the House, then got up and walked out.

“As you walk off the floor, Mr. Speaker, you’re walking away, just as so many Republicans have walked away from taxpayers, the unemployed, and very frankly, as well, from those who will be seeking medical assistance from their doctors, 48 million senior citizens,” Hoyer can be heard saying.

“We regret, Mr. Speaker, that you have walked off the platform without addressing the issue of critical importance to this country, and that is the continuation of the middle class tax cut, the continuation of unemployment benefits for those at risk of losing them, and a continuation of the access to doctors for all those 48 million seniors who rely on them daily for help.”

And that’s when the audio cut out. Seconds later, footage faded to a shot of the capitol from outside.

Moments later, someone at C-SPAN took to Twitter and explained: “C-SPAN has no control over the U.S. House TV cameras – the Speaker of the House does.”

It’s for reasons just like this, one might infer, that Boehner told C-SPAN back in February it would not be allowed control its own cameras.

Republicans have learned a lot from Fox "News." Control the media and you control the narrative. They're not there yet, not completely, but they seem to be getting closer all the time.

2 comments:

Jeff said...

That stunt was right out of the Faux "News" playbook. You can tell if you've won the argument if the go to the "cut his mic" card. Or, at the very least, they use the "sorry-we're-out-of-time" trick.

On a side note, I want to give you your props for your takes in the LJS comments section. Good stuff. Beats the hell out of anything "Jody P." or "KW Guy" have to offer. Jody P.'s idea of a reasoned take is one or barely two very short paragraphs smeared with "liberal" or "socialist" or whatever pejorative he can think of. Not exactly debate squad material.

Bill Garthright said...

Thanks, Jeff. It's not something I should be doing, since I spend too much time online, anyway. But I go to the Lincoln Journal Star for the local news, first thing every morning, and I can't help but comment, sometimes.

I don't, however, follow the arguments much. If I'm there, I might read them and comment, but then I move on.