Politainment
: First, go read the Bill Clinton report, below. I hate it when something that took a lot of work scrolls off the screen. Isn’t it pathetic to plug and link to your own post? Yes, it is. Anyway…. Here’s one more thought that came out of what Clinton said…
The right was clever, no brilliant, to bypass the news — which they felt was stacked against them — to use other media and even entertainment to sell their political cause. Now the left is fighting back and so it’s interesting to look at the scorecard:
: Radio — still owned by the right, of course. Is Air America an inroad? Not if it doesn’t survive past the election. But Clinton said its getting audience last night and, of course, Al Franken says so.
: Books — shifting. Clinton said that during his presidency, most political books were from the right and they filled the best-seller list. Now the left is gaining with Franken, Moore, Clinton, and Clinton. There are still loads of conservatives selling well — start with O’Reilly. But now it’s a battleground. Only thing is, the audience for books themselves is tiny. The hidden agenda (besides earning advances) is going on book tours and getting publicity on TV, I think.
: Movies — owned by the left. Well, of course, they’re a product of left-wing Hollywood, aren’t they? There’s Fahrenheit 9/11, The Hunting of the President, The Day After Tomorrow in theaters now. What am I missing on the right? Who was the last big right-wing star after John Wayne?
: Music — always been the left. But I don’t think that’s effective today; it’s no longer and has not been in ages a medium of lyrics and the rebellion these days is often generic: anger at the Man rather than this Man or that Man.
: TV — outside of the news (let’s not get into that), isn’t TV rather apolitical? Oh, sure, there’s your random anti-Reagan miniseries and the message snuck in here and there. But I think this will be the next frontier of political entertainment. See Al Gore’s new network. It won’t be as overtly political as Air America, they say, but it will have a world view, of course. And I’ll be you’ll see some efforts to create the Norman Lear or the anti-Lear in politically hued sitcoms and dramas.
What do you see?
