Halperin & Harris

The Freak Show in the Center Ring of Our Political-Media Circus

Andrew Keen talks with Mark Halperin, Political Director of ABC News, and John Harris, National Political Editor for the Washington Post, authors of The Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008 about the freak show elements of our politics and our media.

“Matt Drudge is the outsider, the kid with his nose pressed against the window. He grew up with feelings of anger, bitterness towards the system. These kinds of feelings are one’s that lots of Conservatives identify with…. The Drudge Report is really unique in being able to drive stories in the mainstream media. Republican operatives use him…. Drudge has become the ultimate insider in being able to effect the public narrative that is so important in political campaigns.”

Halprin and Harris: “Freak show values and freak show incentives are not on the fringes, but at the center of our media.”

“A bad confluence between weak political organizations and personalities, two polarizing presidents, and a weak media have brought us to this cultural crisis.”

“There’s never been a media that 24 hours a day … emphasizes the attack, the negative, and the superficial over anything else. The current media culture allows the low culture, the attack media politics to dominate.”

LISTEN TO HALPERIN AND HARRIS