I watched MSNBC's Inaugural coverage this weekend, and saw many of the same aspects of myth-making that I would have expected from a network with a slight liberal slant.
Throughout the weekend, MSNBC frequently showed the most famous lines from FDR's, Kennedy's, and Reagan's inaugural speeches--"nothing to fear but fear itself," "ask what you can do for your country," and "government is the problem, not the solution." I considered these tautologies, in that they imply not necessarily accurate comparisons to these historic presidencies.
MSNBC also made frequent mention of the number of people expected to show up on the mall for the Inauguration, coupled with aerial shots of huge crowds gathered. This may be an example of quantification of quality, in which the network played up the greatness of the inauguration by asserting that record-breaking crowds would be present.
Anchor Keith Olbermann brought up Obama's political moderation thus far; if Republicans accept all of Obama's cabinet appointments, Obama wins. Conversely, if they reject his appointments and proposals, Obama still wins because he had the appearance of bipartisanship. This was an example of neither/norism, where the inability of opponents to nail Obama down as far left or center left makes him more appealing.
An example of inoculation in the coverage came when an anchor made brief mention of how burdensome the job of presidency is, and how Obama has been receiving daily intelligence briefings that must be deeply disturbing, and then immediately after proclaimed the greatness of this inauguration and how historic it was.
Another example of neither/norism may be frequent discussion of Obama's bipartisan dinners honoring John McCain, Colin Powell, and Joe Biden. By appearing bipartisan and moderate, Obama appeals to a larger base of people.
Although I'm not exactly sure which aspect of myth making this may fall under, MSNBC anchor Tamryn Hall at one point called the Hudson River plane crash and an instance in which the host of Top Chef saved an author's life "Obama miracles." Her co-anchor responded that soon Obama would be "walking on water."
MSNBC anchor David Schuster utilized statement of fact when he said that "there is no doubt that the entire country is electrified right now, and that history is about to be made." The 40-something percent of the country that did not vote for Obama is likely not terribly electrified about his presidency.
One anchor also claimed that "there is not one person in the world today who does not feel like they are basking in sunlight, despite the cold weather."
While speaking with Chris Matthews, Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter claimed that people "will be talking about this hundreds of years from now," which could be counted as statement of fact.
It was also said that there is "no longer any doubt that we can be one country," which is an example of statement of fact and possibly identification.
8:15 Edit
More things I noticed but did not have time to blog about:
Ted Kennedy's medical emergency and Robert Byrd's (apparently non) medical emergencies received coverage when they first occurred; however, once details were confirmed I didn't hear much of anything about them the rest of the night. Instead, Michelle Obama's dress selection was the topic of conversation. Unless this latest seizure marks the beginning of a very rapid decline in Ted Kennedy's health, I'm not sure that in the future this occurrence will be remembered. The medical emergency pushed back the parade an hour; I think it's funny that we had used this possible hitch as an example of inoculation and privation of history in discussion section.
