Steve Malzberg took Bill Bennett's place behind the microphone on the former Education Secretary's six-to-nine radio show this morning, and I overheard his response to a caller arguing that between talk radio and the occasional newspaper endorsement for a Republican candidate, the mainstream media couldn't possibly be leftward. He was circumspect.
Rightist politics establishes itself in radio, cable television and the internet; leftists are apprehensive, emphatically denying their intact (if shriveling) controlling media interest. Is it because the deejays, the shock jocks, the East Coast talk shows, National Public Radio; the Public Broadcasting System, the broadcast networks; the sitcoms, the serials, the adventures and the reality shows; the musicians, the artists, the critics; the filmmakers, the screenwriters, the actors, the playwrights, the novelists; the wire services and the newspapers; can't stand competition?