Monday, December 07, 2009

Continuing The Gleichschaltung

So NPR has decided to throw its weight behind the effort to make this a one-party state. That's great. NPR reporter pressured over Fox role

Executives at National Public Radio recently asked the network’s top political correspondent, Mara Liasson, to reconsider her regular appearances on Fox News because of what they perceived as the network’s political bias, two sources familiar with the effort said.

According to a source, Liasson was summoned in early October by NPR’s executive editor for news, Dick Meyer, and the network’s supervising senior Washington editor, Ron Elving. The NPR executives said they had concerns that Fox’s programming had grown more partisan, and they asked Liasson to spend 30 days watching the network.

At a follow-up meeting last month, Liasson reported that she’d seen no significant change in Fox’s programming and planned to continue appearing on the network, the source said.

NPR’s focus on Liasson’s work as a commentator on Fox’s “Special Report” and “Fox News Sunday” came at about the same time as a White House campaign launched in September to delegitimize the network by painting it as an extension of the Republican Party.

One source said the White House’s criticism of Fox was raised during the discussions with Liasson. However, an NPR spokeswoman told POLITICO that the Obama administration’s attempts to discourage other news outlets from treating Fox as a peer had no impact on any internal discussions at NPR.

Yeah, right. What are the chances that lefty leaning NPR just happens to "accidentally" be carrying the administration water again. NPR must truly believe everyone who listens to them is blithering. (They may be right.)

Of course this is merely a continuation of the Obama administration's attempt to implement the policy of Gleichschaltung, or "bringing into line" of the media.

Roger Kimball noticed this back when the NEA scandal broke in September:

“This is just the beginning.” Who could doubt it? Reading through this transcript, I was struck by two things. One was the aroma of self-intoxication. These bureaucrats and artists and activists are utterly besotted by the contemplation of their own virtue. They know what’s good for the country, and what’s good for you, and they’re willing to devote themselves ceaselessly to making it happen.

The second thing that strikes one about this transcript is the aura of menace that floats just behind the talk of passion, pushing the president’s agenda, connecting with “labor unions, progressive groups,” etc., etc. As Yosi Sergant’s pep talk suggests, these people regard legal obstacles not as boundaries to be observed but as impediments to be overcome by “tactics,” a word that frequently appears in the transcript.

There is a German word for what we are witnessing at the NEA and elsewhere in the Obama administration’s effort to push its agenda. It is Gleichschaltung. It means two things: first, bringing all aspects of life into conformity with a given political line. And second, as a prerequisite for realizing that goal, the obliteration or at least marginalization of all opposition.

This has it exactly right. The "bringing into line" could certainly be witnessed in the media reaction or, more accurately, the media's non-reaction to the NEA story itself. It was studiously ignored by all of the media which wanted to prove their bona fides to the ruling establishment. The one outlet that did not, of course, was Fox, and just as quickly they became the focus of fire. Unsurprisingly, NPR has been falling all over themselves to order to embrace the Gleichschaltung. Of course they did not do this as a result of direct marching orders from the White House, but that is the point of this process. Once it gets established the Gleichschaltung moves forward under its own weight.

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