Punditry?
Musings on Today's Politics

Of pundits and punditry – why do we believe these guys?
I began to wonder recently how Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity,  Tucker Carlson, and (less so) Keith Olberman & Chris Matthews, have come to hold such sway over the opinions of the American populous.  Of course, they have television and radio programs that drench the airwaves 24/7 but I was more interested, curious, really, as to where their moralauthority came from.  What, in their education and backgrounds, qualified them to be the opinion–creators, the king-makers, the “Voices” a yearning nation turned to listen to?

The abolition of the Fairness Doctrine notwithstanding (another high water mark of the “Reagan Revolution”), I’m not focusing on what’s being said but, rather, who is saying it.  Why does this handful of people have so much power?  Again, the obvious reason they have it is because of access to the airwaves but, given America’s desire for genuine meritocracy, what has this handful of men (and let’s not ignore that these are  all white men)what have they done to earn the positions they hold?

So, thanks to Wikipedia and other sources, I did some homework.

First, I looked up “pundit.”  Here’s what I found in The American Heritage Dictionary – Second College Edition  (1985)

Pundit  (pun’ dit) n. – 1. A Brahmanic scholar.  2. A learned person.  3. An authority or critic: a political pundit.

Brahman (bra-men) n. 1. Also Brah-ma (-me) Hinduism.  The essential divine reality of the universe; the eternal spirit from which all being originates and to which all returns.  2. Also Brah-min-min) Hinduism. A member of the highest caste, originally composed of priests but now occupationally diversified.

Brahminism (bra-mi-niz’ em)n. 1. The attitude or conduct typical of a social or cultural elite.

So, a pundit, based on this definition should be, at the very least, a “learned” person, “an authority” – and maybe even a “member of the elite.”  My question, again, is what qualifies Limbaugh, O’Reilly, Hannity, Beck, Carlson, Olberman, or Matthews as “learned,” or as more of an “authority” than any of us?

 

Here’s what I found on that score.

The group kind of book-ends the Baby Boom with Chris Matthews being born December 17, 1945 and Tucker Carlson being born May 16, 1969.  In between you have O’Reilly (1949), Limbaugh (1951), Olberman (1959),  Hannity (1961) and Beck (1964).

Five of the seven went to private schools (Olberman,  Carlson, Hannity, O’Reilly, Matthews – and the last three went to Catholic Prep Schools).  Only three graduated from college (Matthews, O’Reilly, Olberman – with O’Reilly & Matthews attending Marist & Holy Cross, resprectively – more Roman Catholic schooling).

In all, regarding journalistic credentials, O’Reilly has an impressive television-journalism resume (with some local Emmys and graduate degrees from Boston University and Harvard), while Olberman has essentially a sports-broadcasting background with his communications degree from Cornell.  Matthews has a notable newspaper career on his resume along with speech-writing for Jimmy Carter and being Tip O’Neill’s top aide.  Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson has a slim mention of working for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.  In Carlson’s case, though, given his relative youth (even though he has  already written an autobiography!), we might see the influence of his family leading to his job path(his father was Director of the US Information Agency and President of  the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and his mother’s side of the family is related to the Fulbrights and are the heirs of the Swanson food conglomerate).

For the other three, regarding credentials, we find:

Limbaugh flunked out of Southeast Missouri State University but had an uncle appointed to a federal judgeship by Ronald Reagen and a “family filled with . . . lawyers” (Wikipedia).  His major background for being a political trendsetter, though, is probably his extensive work in music radio (deejay/host) or as the director of promotions for the Kansas City Royals.

Sean Hannity dropped out of NYU because of financial issues and worked construction and as a bartender before  hosting his first talk show in 1989 at UC Santa Barbara where he was charged with “discriminating against gays and lesbians.”  He then moved on to host shows in Athens, Alabama (Huntsville market) and Atlanta before Roger Ailes decided he was perfect for Fox News.

Glenn Beck started his deejay career at 13 and then hosted Top-40 radio for many years before moving over to the talk radio side.  And, while he went to a public high school, he, too,  was raised Roman Catholic, even though the now self-proclaimed recovering alcoholic/drug addict is a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints of Jesus Christ (which has no influence on his coverage of Mitt Romney’s campaign).

Of course, five of the seven “pundits” are notoriously conservative and, while Matthews’s credentials look liberal, his recent support of Rudy Giuliani and attacks on Hilary Clinton certainly seem to move him toward the right side, leaving only Olberman (and the Daily Show & Colbert) as t.v. representatives of anything remotely resembling a left wing point of view.  

Despite the constant harangues from O’Reilly, Limbaugh, et al about the “liberal media” we are certainly hard-pressed to identify who, exactly, that media is, given the power of these pundits.   (The Wikipedia explanation of “pundit” is

 ·  , a scholar or expert, especially of traditional Indian law, philosophy, or music

·  Pundit (expert), an expert or opinion-leader who analyzes events in his or her area of expertise in the popular media

Again, the word “expert” appears in a definition but I’m still trying to ascertain what makes this particular group “experts,” other than the fact that they have opinions and they have a bully pulpit from which to express them.

Video Pundits

You'll find below some YouTube clips featuring the pundits discussed here.  The first is a classic take of Jon Stewart visiting Crossfire and taking Paul Begala & Tucker Carlson to task.  The next is Keith Olberman nailing Bill O'Reilly for lying and then lying about lying, as only O'Reilly can do.  Check back periodically for other clips being added.