ALL ABOARD
Following up on yesterday's post, it's not just Congress that's on the populist bandwagon against "excessive" life-styles by corporations "on the public dole". The media has totally jumped on the band-wagon, and in some cases is leading it, as the New York Times reports:
"The tabloid media, of course, have always peered into the excesses of the rich and famous with a mix of puritan disapproval and voyeurism. But these outlets and other news organizations are now recording troubling uses of taxpayer money at country clubs, private airports and glamorous retreats and, in so doing, explicitly tapping into a fierce populist anger at corporate America, and even pressuring Congress to hold companies accountable."
That'd be just fine if it was just limited to the tabloids. But as the pieces goes on to explain, it goes way beyond that pretty quickly:
"Tabloids aren’t the only ones wagging their fingers. In recent
months, network news divisions have relied more heavily on watchdog
segments that, producers believe, resonate with viewers who are angry
about their own economic status.
Sharyl Attkisson, an investigative correspondent who contributes weekly “Follow the Money” segments for the “CBS Evening News,” said visual proof of what could be excessive spending “taps into a lot of outrage” that Americans feel about the economy.
Hope the media remembers to give equal time to the executives and moguls who sign their pay-checks even though they're not on the "public dole"...yet*. Oh, and ruminate some day about the long-term consequences of their actions, on the social fabric of the nation.
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