Monthly Archives: June 2014

Can journalism think beyond left and right?

What would it take to get MSM journalists to stop categorizing candidates along a left/right political spectrum? This is what allows candidates like Cuomo in NY and Hilary Clinton to describe themselves as moderates or centrists, when in fact they mostly represent an interest group — when push comes to shove they’ll support the interests of established financial and corporate capital over other constituents. The fact that Dave Brat’s campaign embraced a full-throated anti-Wall Street rhetoric (“crony capitalism” was their complaint about Cantor) shows that the divisions in the country have at least three poles: corporate, populist right, and populist left (although even that’s maybe not precise enough). Listening to Cuomo dismiss Zephyr Teachout‘s challenge by saying “there are people on the left, and people on the right,” anticipating how the media will treat a Bernie Sanders run for President (they’ll call him “fringe left” even though point-for-point his positions generally show majority support throughout the country): if political journalists could be given other language to describe the political landscape besides right, center, and left, we’d all be better off. So how do we get them to start doing that?