Progressives have a brand new source for news in Missouri: FordwardSTL, an aggregator site that gathers together articles and commentary from selected Missouri newspapers, radio broadcasts and blogs is now open for business. The contents reflect progressive concerns and includes a calendar of events. This may sound like a modest production, but it’s really a big deal. If you want to know why, consider the 2010 elections.

You’ve heard lots of rationalizing about the election disaster, right? I have my own way of describing that little upset – theft. Right-wing theft of the political narrative, the details of which comprise a bigger, more complex story than I can deal with here. It’s a sure thing, though, that the most recent iteration of the GOP big lie was facilitated by the explicit and implicit bias that permeates our information infrastructure.

There was indeed a small percentage of Americans who were up in arms about the Obama presidency from the beginning – Bush dead-enders who enlisted early in the Tea Party and, according to polls, make up the largest part of that merry band of lunatics. But, thanks to media failures, they were able to hijack the narrative of the Bush recession and persuade some of the ever-malleable “independents” that hard times are a result of government over-reach, that success is failure, and that black is white.

Consider Fox News. Very recently Media Matters reported that Fox News bosses ordered news personnel to slant their coverage of climate issues in order to cast doubt on climate science.  Last week we learned how Fox News honchos ordered reporters to bias their coverage of the debate over health care reform. It’s no wonder that survey after survey has found that Fox News viewers usually harbor serious misconceptions about the real world. (A sample of such findings can be found here, here, here, here and here.) The same misinformation and mean-minded drek is spread by conservative talk radio stations – such as KSGF or KWTO-AM in Missouri, or locally-produced programs like Brian Nieves’ Teaple-oriented “The Patriot Enclave” on KWMO.

The problem goes beyond the explicit bias of agenda-driven coprorate outlets like Fox News and right-wing talk radio; there is also the problem of what is covered and what is ignored – implicit bias – by the traditional media. Last week Republicans deep-sixed the Zadroga  9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which would have paid for the health care of 9/11 first responders who were harmed by ground-zero aftermath conditions. Among the reasons given by many in the GOP, who were, incidentally, fighting for Richie Rich’s tax cuts at the same time, was the cost. Media Matters’ Eric Boehlert points out that the role played by congressional GOPers in this matter received absolutely zero, nada, zilch coverage on ABC, CBS or NBC.  

Another type of implicit bias has been characterized as the “he says, she says” reporting style which accurately reports politicians assertions, but provides no follow-up as to the veracity of the claims that are made. Or alternatively, there is reporting that leaves out or soft-pedals embarrassing details. Adam at the St. Louis Activist Hub has made the case for this type of “lazy” bias in the political reporting of the St. Louis’ Post-Dispatch‘s Jake Wagman (see, for example, here and here).

You don’t have to look far to see the consequences of explicit and implicit bias in our information infrastructure. The classic case is the ease with which the GOP media machine was able to sell the infamous death panels. Apropos of which, when considering implicit bias, ask yourself how many of the Tea Party girls and boys have heard that one of their own, Arizona governor Jan Brewer, has actually enacted “death panels” – real rationing, not the comparatively benign end of life counseling of the dreaded “Obamacare” – in the service of the GOP obsession with cutting social spending and never, never raising taxes?  

We all know that to a certain extent, progressive political blogs exist to counter media bias as well as to present the progressive viewpoint. To take a local example, consider FiredUp! Missouri‘s coverage of Missouri’s Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder. So far as I know, FiredUp! is the only media resource that has addressed numerous irregularities in Kinder’s conduct, most notably, but not limited to some rather obvious questions about the funding for Kinder’s challenge to the Affordable Care Act. It’s hard to argue that Kinder’s comportment is not newsworthy since he is a major state office holder who, apparently, has ambitions to be governor one day.

However, although they offer an important corrective to right-wing and traditional media, regional blogs in particular often reach a somewhat limited and fragmented number group of readers. Which is why a well-organized and comprehensive site like ForwardSTL can play a significant role, bringing readers from across the state together in a one-stop-shopping site. Integrating information and expanding its reach isn’t a magic bullet – but it is an important step in building a progressive infrastructure in Missouri, and as it matures, ForwardSTL will provide one more tool to use as progressives work to recapture the essential narrative line.

I’m just glad to be here.

Years ago I was engaged in a conversation with an old acquaintance – we went on something of a metaphysical tack. He stopped the conversation with, “Well, you know, I’m just glad to be here.”

I’m also very glad that progressive blogtopia (yes, we’re very much aware that skippy coined the phrase!) is here in its present form (since our old media does such a uniformly poor job). The progressive blogs were not quite there for the 2000 and 2004 elections.

I had some interesting experiences on the Internets in the lead up to the 2004 election. I spent far too much time on the Forum for America, the Howard Dean campaign’s lesser know cousin to the much more famous (and less sophisticated) Blog for America.

One of those eye opening experiences was an interaction between denizens of the Dean Forum and Newsweek:

The Dean Dilemma, January 12, 2004

…The murmurs of doubt are faint, barely audible above the background hum of the Internet cosmos, but they are worth listening to at the moment, for the doubters don’t seem to be “trolls”–provocateurs in digital disguise–and they express concerns about their favorite son, Dr. Howard Dean, in the bosom of his own blogosphere.

“Dammit, tell him to get his mouth under control!” says “WVMicko” on a forum conducted by Dean’s official Web site. “He’s been all over the map on a lot of things, and the way he shoots off his mouth is a big reason why.” A poster to the site named “Lancaster” frets that his wife is put off by Dean’s confrontational personality. “Her initial reaction to Dean? ‘That guy scares me.’ Now, I’m not a full-fledged Deanie, but I’m strongly leaning that way… but she’s still not convinced that Dean is the right guy for the job.” A writer named “irmaly” also views Dean’s personality as a vulnerability. “I am a strong Dean supporter,” irmaly declares, “but I think the campaign is missing this most important point–the need to focus strongly on getting up over the perception of ‘mean, angry Dean.’ Dean is portrayed as a man who, rather than share a beer in a local hangout, will fight you for yours. I realize this isn’t true, but Bush and Company knows perception is everything, and they have already had some success at seriously hurting Dean on this perception. I don’t know how you get up over this, but you have to, or we will lose…”

There are a lot of lessons in those two paragraphs. The individuals quoted in the article spent an ungodly amount of time and effort trying to correct the record – to no avail. If I recall correctly the discussion on the Forum (the old archives are long gone – there are a few fragments on the wayback machine) pointed out that a stringer had taken the quotes and passed them on to Newsweek which just plugged them into their pre-existing narrative.

A question: How could Newsweek prove if someone was a troll or not?

The main lesson: Never give the media anything that detracts from your candidate’s messages and strategies. Another simpler lesson: The Internets are forever. If everyone on this public blog can read it, so can the media.

The memory of that early January 2004 distraction was dredged up by a series of exchanges I took part in this weekend on another political site I used to  visit more frequently in the past. Until this crazy season for the amateur fans of our candidates ends (I’m hoping for February 5th) the once venerable site will continue to be the equivalent of a bunch of junior high school students throwing food in the cafeteria.

Contrary to my best intentions, I got sucked into the vortex.

I’m old school when it come to snark. Sarcasm combined with experience and an economy of words can be far too much fun. Though directing snark at humorless and psychotic true believers can generate a lot of heat.

Too many of the undisciplined amateur fans (of all Democratic presidential candidates) spend their time perpetuating right wingnut stories, talking points, and memes by directing them at the other Democratic candidates. They throw everything against the wall in the hope that something will stick, never realizing, or caring about the long term damage. The reality is that one of those candidates will be the nominee – and our lazy old media will dredge up all kinds of stuff on the progressive Internets to fit into their pre-existing narrative.

A disciplined and savvy candidate fan intent on working the progressive blogs could reinforce their candidates’ campaign message while simultaneously directing their search engine skills at the foibles of whoever happens to be that day’s republican front runner. I know, it’s probably too much to ask.  

The right and their media stenographers have already started in on all of the Democratic candidates (as if any of us should ever believe anything Novacula writes). We don’t need to do their work for them.

Remember the 2000 campaign? Remember 2004?

Campaigns know about controlling their messages with the media. Too many amateur fans don’t have a clue. When I walked the Harkin Steak Fry in September the sea of campaign workers and volunteers seeing my red press credential avoided me like the plague. The campaigns drill that into their staff and volunteers at these events – that’s discipline. And discipline is what it will take to beat the republicans at all levels in 2008.

Repetition is sound pedagogy. Never give the media anything that detracts from your Democratic Party nominee’s messages and strategies.