Its an open secret within the media, and without, that if they want to stay in the good graces of the Obama Administration, they have to toe the orthodox Democratic Party line. If they don't they could find themselves left out of the loop. Banned, like The Boston Herald, from covering the White House, excluded from press briefings or any other official White House functions.
Since this threat hangs heavy over the the editorial boards of the nations media organizations, and has not an insignificant effect on even hard news coverage, then it only stands to reason that a compliant media outlet would police its individual members. If one were to stray too far from the herd, he might well find himself in the unenviable position of editorial cartoonist Ted Rall. He could find his work facing constant, on-going rejections.
Rall is open about his problem with the many left-of-center, as he calls them, magazines and newspapers who, having once eagerly accepted his work during the Bush years, now reject it out of hand, due to his criticisms of Obama. He has even shared some of his responses, some of which are as follows-
A sample of recent rejections, each from editors at different left-of-center media outlets:
· “I am familiar with and enjoy your cartoons. However the readers of our site would not be comfortable with your (admittedly on point) criticism of Obama.”
· “Don’t be such a hater on O and we could use your stuff. Can’t you focus more on the GOP?”
· “Our first African-American president deserves a chance to clean up Bush’s mess without being attacked by us.”
I have many more like that.
So there you have it. Admittedly, what he calls "left-of-center" are such progressives magazines as "The Nation" and "Mother Jones", but it doesn't take much of a stretch to apply it to the more mainstream media, both print and broadcast. In fact, the atmosphere has been so poisoned with it you could cut it with a knife.
And remember, Rall is basically a free-lancer, although his cartoons are syndicated in many papers. Imagine what it must be like for a relatively unknown young journalist struggling to make a name for himself.
You are always conscious as to who and what provides the bread and butter.
