I often assert that I am a child of the wrong generation. The lifestyle of the roaring ’20s as narrated through my favorite book “The Great Gatsby in conjunction with the flapper era’s spark of the feminist movement, allures me to the nostalgia of the early decades of the 20th century.
And, perhaps most evocative of the period, at least particular to my own personal interests, was the transformation of political discourse that emerged from the Franklin Delano Roosevelt presidency.
Between the years of 1933 and 1944, FDR aired 30 radio broadcasts dubbed fireside chats during which he would speak directly to the American people about his New Deal” proposals. It was a mutuality unlike any other and it surfaced one of the most renowned legislative maneuvers in American history as well as at least relatively a universally beloved political figure.
Fast forward 64 years and behold the severe disillusionment of the current chasm between U.S. politics and the media that covers it.
Cue John McCain and Barack Obama – an aged maverick with whom America has fallen out of love and an African American change agent generating skepticism about his actual capabilities and underlying motives. Granted each of these labels is a product of the opponent’s cynicisms. But the media has taken these pigeonholed characterizations and exploited them to the point of deceit.
As a veteran of McCain’s war room in Washington D.C. with my sole task being the monitoring of his campaign media for five straight months I can honestly say that how he came to be the Republican presidential nominee is entirely beyond me. I watched as television networks and online sources alike branded his cause a joke and counted down the days before he would be fundamentally forced to cede his run.
I’ll stop the recollection here. I refuse to launch into a tirade about the media’s obsession with Obama and its reckless contempt for McCain as this argument in itself has become a mundane contribution to the current stagnancy of political coverage. Yet the blatant lack of respect I observed between McCain’s campaign and the participating media outlets cannot be overlooked. The problem is the insolence is reciprocated.
On election night reporters will undoubtedly flock to downtown Chicago to cover the results of one of history’s most revolutionary campaigns – that of Obama. Unfortunately for the shallow-pocketed circuits the prime coverage locations and access are being sold for a hefty price. The cheapest view of Obama’s election night activities on Nov. 4 can be purchased from his media market at a rate of $880 according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
In addition to the massive price tag on Obama’s media coverage the campaign is also beginning to enact exclusivity regarding exposure.
Reporter Barbara West of WFTV a Florida television station recently conducted an interview with Obama’s running mate Joe Biden. Referring to his comments about “spreading the wealth West inquired about Obama’s ties to Marxism. In response to this allegation, the campaign cancelled all future interviews with the station.
No one can argue that such comments, particularly in a swing state where both candidates are vying for the final vote, are inappropriate from a media source. And, while McCain fights the same battles on the GOP front, this instance exemplifies the increasingly tense extrication between media and political trust, which could prove detrimental regardless of the election’s outcome.
Rather than a country allied to its leader through friendly and straightforward communication, the increasing divide between politicians and their resources of exposure are creating an uneasy uncertainty among the American people about whom to believe.
We are no longer in an age that can sensibly be governed through fireside chats.” Yet the sentimentality remains. If the next president – whoever he may be – wishes to clench the trust of the American people he must surpass the stereotypical political scorn for the news industry and media outlets must likewise garner a newfound respect for the free flow of public information.