Apocalypse Not in Texas
3rd September 2021
The American media tends to consist of highly educated individuals, many of whom went to elite academic institutions. They tend to congregate in large urban environments surrounded by like-minded people who have similar interests and worldviews. The result is a media that is urban, coastal, secular and progressive.
I.e. the Crust. (Or Cloud People, as ZMan likes to say.)
Good reporters tend to be mindful of their biases. Most reporters do not. In ways large and small, from what the press chooses to cover, chooses not to cover and chooses to use as narrative constructs for stories, the secular, urban, progressive worldview is pervasive. Many reporters are not well-traveled outside other urban enclaves. Much of America is more foreign to them than European cities. Too many political reporters only venture out into the heartland of flyover country during presidential campaign season.
Hence the Narrative, What All Good-Thinking People (Like Us) Believe.
The entire abortion discussion on television is designed to advocate for abortion. I know this firsthand. Over several years at CNN, whenever the issue arose, I was asked to be the man who would confront the pro-abortion rights anchor and the pro-abortion rights, expressly female guest opposite me. When I could, I would decline and suggest a long list of female anti-abortion advocates in Washington, D.C., who were readily available. Rarely were they asked. Almost to a network, television producers and anchors want the optics of a man advocating against abortion being challenged by a woman who can talk about her body and her choice. One would think female advocates against abortion did not exist despite virtually every anti-abortion organization in Washington being helmed by a woman.
And it’s all about the optics.