Remember the nonstop, 24/7 coverage of the coordinated disruption at town hall meetings by tea-partiers in the Summer of 2009 during healthcare reform? Of course you do, since the media gave it wall to wall coverage for months. Now fast forward to this month, when angry constituents are loudly protesting Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) proposal to privatize Medicare. But, unlike the tea-partiers shouting down democratic congress-members back in 2009, today’s outraged constituents seem unworthy of the media’s attention.
For example, Paul Ryan recently hosted a town hall in his district where this happened:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=h5kgnE1Xvec&w=320&h=240]
You would think that the media would, at the very least, consider Paul Ryan being booed at his own town-hall by self-described lifelong, conservatives as newsworthy, but the silence persists. Regardless of the lack of coverage, the anger and outrage is spreading. On April 20, freshman Congressman Rep. Pat Meehan (R-PA) faced tough questions from his constituents after voting for Ryan’s budget proposal.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mzYN2QY11zk&w=320&h=240]
Rep. Lou Barletta’s (R-PA), another freshman who voted for Ryan’s plan, received a hostile reception from his constituents after voting for Ryan’s plan as well. The video can be seen here. Freshmen Reps. Robert Dold (R-IL) and Charlie Bass (R-NH) also faced an earful of complaints from their constituents for voting in favor of the Republican budget. According to reports, Dold could not even make it to the end of his presentation during an Illinois town hall before being overwhelmed with questions about supporting corporate tax breaks and voting to end Medicare. Bass received a similar response at his town hall in Hillsborough, NH where the congressman was repeatedly questioned about why he voted in favor of Ryan’s proposal.
The Republican members of congress who voted for Ryan’s proposal are clearly facing a backlash for taking a wildly unpopular stance against Medicare and tax breaks for the wealthy. So the question is: How many more angry constituents must attend town halls to loudly protest their representatives, for the media to give them an ounce of the attention regularly given to tea-partiers?
Rania:
Your politeness when discussing MSM’s refusal to cover (and thereby promote) more than just the tiny sliver of political solution spectrum is exemplary. Lest you be dismissed as an angry left-wing radical by the… MSM!
The vicious circle remains closed. Progressive voice remain excommunicated. Cassandra, in a tired, yet firm voice speaks, for the umpteenth time: “I told you so”.
Walter, a middle-aged progressive activist with a passionate dedication to a Fair Planet.
April 24, 2011 at 2:16 pmThe media is owned by wealthy republicans….. coverage will only be as fair and unbiased as they allow….Progressives have to make enough noise that they cannot be ignored… It happened in Wisconsin but it must continue everywhere.
April 24, 2011 at 2:49 pmRania:
Like I told some of my friends on another blog, what does the media(NBC, CBS, ABC and Faux Noise) and the Tea Party have in common? They are both run and financed by the same people.
April 24, 2011 at 2:54 pmRania: I understand and share your frustration and I’ll be the last one to defend the mainstream media, which is just a euphemism for the corporate media. Its job is to protect the status quo and the interests of the ruling elite. That’s been its role for a long time. Luckily technology – mainly the proliferation of social media – has markedly weakened the influence of the MSM. While many of the brainwashed still get their daily dose of propaganda from Fox News and other MSM outlets, more and more young (and even older) people are going online to the blogs and places like Facebook and YouTube to find out what’s going on around them.
As people spend more time getting information online and less from the MSM, its relevancy will continue to decline as we’ve seen in places like Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan and elsewhere where citizens are rising in opposition to the established corporate interests whether the MSM covers the protests or not.
People writing and reading blogs like this one and thousands of other ones are breaking the monopoly on “news” once held by the MSM.
Where the hell is the MSM? Where they’ve always been, with the monied interests. The good news is the uprising can succeed without them.
April 25, 2011 at 5:00 pm