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by
Norman Solomon
October
11, 2003
Now
that California’s electorate has rewarded a dramatic recall effort, some
sequels are likely elsewhere in the near future. It’s a good bet that political
operatives in many states will try to learn from this fall’s Golden State
extravaganza.
Media
strategists were key to the recall drive that ended in triumph for Arnold
Schwarzenegger’s savvy corporate backers. So, as a public service, here are
some tips for any partisans who want a shot at spinning their way into recall
history:
* Do your best to capitalize on smoldering
resentments. Don’t bother to illuminate much about the actual underlying causes
of social discontent. Try to use citizen outrage as bait to attract the support
of talk-show hosts, pundits, ambitious politicians and well-heeled contributors.
Spark
plugs for the California recall were happy to vilify Gray Davis as a crafty
charlatan and/or incompetent cold fish. The governor made such caricatures
easy; he raked in lots of sizeable checks from vested interests and engaged in
budgetary sleight of hand. But instead of confronting his deference to energy firms
that functioned as rip-off artists -- or denouncing his refusal to back tax
hikes for large corporations and wealthy individuals -- the recall’s
conservative boosters preferred to blame Davis for too much spending and not
enough solicitude to big business.
* Try to throw a manipulative harness on
sincere concerns among voters. Keep the media messages simple and simplistic.
In
California, an anti-tax drumbeat -- with lots of media reverb -- went a long
way toward drowning out voices that called for a major shift to progressive
taxation. Little news coverage and scant paid advertising explained that such a
shift could mean higher taxes for the rich and large companies but lower taxes
for everyone else.
* If a luminary on the campaign team goes “off
message” with a genuinely sensible observation, put a sock in it, pronto.
Early
in the short campaign, a much-ballyhooed economic adviser for Schwarzenegger
made improperly logical comments. Warren Buffett pointed out that Proposition
13, California’s venerable property-tax limitation law, “doesn’t make sense.” The
fabled financier noted that he was paying $2,264 for a year’s worth of property
taxes on a Southern California home valued at $4 million. But a press secretary
for the actor-turned-politician rushed to proclaim that “Mr. Buffett doesn’t speak
for Mr. Schwarzenegger” and hastened to add that the candidate “has supported
Prop. 13 for 25 years.”
* Do your best to generate a steady stream of
media messages that obscure complexities of underlying power relations while
providing plenty of buzz phrases and images that mostly serve as triggers for pre-existing
assumptions.
Sound-bite
platitudes and Schwarzenegger’s muscle-bound celeb candidacy were well-suited
to what passed for news on television, where even “in depth” stories were
usually the word-length equivalent of a few short paragraphs. While newspapers
provided some notably serious reporting, for the most part the TV news zone was
predictably agog with glitz and sizzle.
* Personalize to dodge basic issues.
In
California, for well over a century, oligopolies of land holdings have
throttled the state. Yet when recall promoters claimed to be speaking truth
about power, they zeroed in on the corporate front man in the governor’s office
rather than confront (or even acknowledge) the dominance of real estate
interests: from urban concrete labyrinths and suburban developments to the vast
tracts of rural acreage owned by multi-multimillionaires and agribusiness.
* Cloak a candidate eager to serve elites in
the garb of a populist champion.
Schwarzenegger’s
plain-speaking clichés supplied media window dressing for an economic mind-set
amounting to a dream come true for upper-class combatants in the class wars.
* Whenever possible, conflate entertainment
fantasies with social realities, even while claiming to always know the
difference.
After
decades as a media creature of entertainment, this fall Arnold Schwarzenegger
easily made the transition to being a media creature of politics. His victory
will encourage other mind-numbing celebrities to further blur the distinctions
between arrogant stories and rational government policies.
Norman Solomon is Executive
Director of the Institute for Public Accuracy (www.accuracy.org) and a syndicated
columnist. His latest book is Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn’t Tell
You (Context Books, 2003) with Reese Erlich. For an excerpt and other
information, go to: www.contextbooks.com/new.html#target. Email: mediabeat@igc.org
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