It's the Media, Stupid.
Normon Solomon: "After decades as a media creature of entertainment, this fall Arnold Schwarzenegger easily made the transition to being a media creature of politics. His victory will encourage other mind-numbing celebrities to further blur the distinctions between arrogant stories and rational government policies."
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1009-01.htm
Published on Thursday, October 9, 2003 by
CommonDreams.org
Media Tips for the Next Recall
by Norman Solomon
Now that California's electorate has rewarded a
dramatic recall effort, some sequels are likely
elsewhere in the near future. It's a good bet that
political operatives in many states will try to learn
from this fall's Golden State extravaganza.
Media strategists were key to the recall drive that
ended in triumph for Arnold Schwarzenegger's savvy
corporate backers. So, as a public service, here are
some tips for any partisans who want a shot at
spinning their way into recall history:
Do your best to capitalize on smoldering resentments.
Don't bother to illuminate much about the actual
underlying causes of social discontent. Try to use
citizen outrage as bait to attract the support of
talk-show hosts, pundits, ambitious politicians and
well-heeled contributors.
Spark plugs for the California recall were happy to
vilify Gray Davis as a crafty charlatan and/or
incompetent cold fish. The governor made such
caricatures easy; he raked in lots of sizeable checks
from vested interests and engaged in budgetary sleight
of hand. But instead of confronting his deference to
energy firms that functioned as rip-off artists -- or
denouncing his refusal to back tax hikes for large
corporations and wealthy individuals -- the recall's
conservative boosters preferred to blame Davis for too
much spending and not enough solicitude to big
business.
Try to throw a manipulative harness on sincere
concerns among voters. Keep the media messages simple
and simplistic.
In California, an anti-tax drumbeat -- with lots of
media reverb -- went a long way toward drowning out
voices that called for a major shift to progressive
taxation. Little news coverage and scant paid
advertising explained that such a shift could mean
higher taxes for the rich and large companies but
lower taxes for everyone else.
If a luminary on the campaign team goes "off message"
with a genuinely sensible observation, put a sock in
it, pronto.
Early in the short campaign, a much-ballyhooed
economic adviser for Schwarzenegger made improperly
logical comments. Warren Buffett pointed out that
Proposition 13, California's venerable property-tax
limitation law, "doesn't make sense." The fabled
financier noted that he was paying $2,264 for a year's
worth of property taxes on a Southern California home
valued at $4 million. But a press secretary for the
actor-turned-politician rushed to proclaim that "Mr.
Buffett doesn't speak for Mr. Schwarzenegger" and
hastened to add that the candidate "has supported
Prop. 13 for 25 years."
Do your best to generate a steady stream of media
messages that obscure complexities of underlying power
relations while providing plenty of buzz phrases and
images that mostly serve as triggers for pre-existing
assumptions.
Sound-bite platitudes and Schwarzenegger's
muscle-bound celeb candidacy were well-suited to what
passed for news on television, where even "in depth"
stories were usually the word-length equivalent of a
few short paragraphs. While newspapers provided some
notably serious reporting, for the most part the TV
news zone was predictably agog with glitz and sizzle.
Personalize to dodge basic issues.
In California, for well over a century, oligopolies of
land holdings have throttled the state. Yet when
recall promoters claimed to be speaking truth about
power, they zeroed in on the corporate front man in
the governor's office rather than confront (or even
acknowledge) the dominance of real estate interests:
from urban concrete labyrinths and suburban
developments to the vast tracts of rural acreage owned
by multi-multimillionaires and agribusiness.
Cloak a candidate eager to serve elites in the garb
of a populist champion.
Schwarzenegger's plain-speaking cliches supplied media
window dressing for an economic mind-set amounting to
a dream come true for upper-class combatants in the
class wars.
Whenever possible, conflate entertainment fantasies
with social realities, even while claiming to always
know the difference.
After decades as a media creature of entertainment,
this fall Arnold Schwarzenegger easily made the
transition to being a media creature of politics. His
victory will encourage other mind-numbing celebrities
to further blur the distinctions between arrogant
stories and rational government policies.
Norman Solomon's weekly syndicated column is archived
at www.fair.org/media-beat . His latest book,
co-authored with Reese Erlich, is "Target Iraq: What
the News Media Didn't Tell You."
###