RUSH: Here’s Marty Baron, here’s the executive editor of the Washington Post, “Wurshington” Post, for those of you in Rio Linda, being interviewed by Brian Lamb Saturday night on C-SPAN. Question: “What’s the impact over the last years of people in the talk show business? What impact has that beat,” he called it the talk show business beat, “What effect does that have on the mainstream media every day?”
BARON: Rush Limbaugh is I think the most successful radio talk show host in the country. That would make him mainstream media. So when they talk about mainstream media, they are the mainstream media in many ways. I just don’t think that this should affect us. I think the thing that we should do is stick to that purpose, stick that to that mission, and not be distracted by attacks on us.
RUSH: It’s hard to know what he’s saying if you’re a layman. And I’m not a layman. I’m a highly trained specialist. I know what he’s saying here. But I am the mainstream media, most successful radio talk show host in the country, make me mainstream media. These guys don’t get it. The mainstream media has a specific definition, legendary, liberal, whatever you want to call it media, the old guys that have dominated since the beginning of time, media. And this is all about the fact their monopoly’s busted up. That’s what Brian Lamb’s actually asking about. You know, these talk radio guys come along and they’ve totally blown up your business model. He didn’t say this. This is what he means. That’s why you need a highly trained specialist like me to analyze the question.
He’s basically asking, “You guys had a monopoly, then the talk show guys come along, and Limbaugh, and they beat you up every day and they’re ragging on you every day, what are you gonna do about it? How’s it affecting the way you’re gonna do your business?” And this guy says, “Well, you know, they’re mainstream media now, too,” which is designed to criticize me. So mainstream is designed to take a hit, make a hit on my prestige, if you will, because people in this audience don’t like the mainstream media, so lumping me in with it is supposed to be a mild criticism. And he admits here that what they have to do is sort of stick to that purpose, stick to that mission, not be distracted by attacks on us.
He’s admitting it’s hand-to-hand combat now. Their mission is to do battle with us, not report the news, but he admits they’re in an ideological battle, the media versus — well, the mainstream media, the Drive-Bys as I call them.