MediaWatch: July 1990
Table of Contents:
Media Swoons Over "Conservative" Reagan-Basher
KEVIN PHILLIPS' CLASS WAR
Take a man who calls himself a conservative; have him write a book echoing liberal themes -- in this case, that Reaganomics made the rich richer and the poor poorer -- and what do you have? A media celebrity who can hardly keep up with all the interview requests from reporters who find confirmation of their views in him. That's what has happened with Kevin Phillips, author of The Politics of Rich and Poor: Wealth and the American Electorate in the Reagan Aftermath.
Here are just two examples: During a June 25 Today interview Deborah Norville shifted from questioner to prompter: "George Wallace you quote in your book as saying 'the rich get richer, the rest just get taken.' The '80s have been a period in which those in the middle found themselves with less and less." Newsweek dedicated a page to urging Democrats to use Phillips' arguments against Republicans. Senior Writer Jonathan Alter charged: "It's hard to finish the book without being convinced that Reagan-era policies effectively mortgaged the future of the country for the short-term interests of the top 20 percent of Americans."
This might have been less convincing if they had bothered to offer another perspective. Newsweek economic columnist Robert Samuelson, for instance, pointed out that adjusted for inflation, the share of all families "with incomes over $35,000 rose from 41 to 46 percent" during the 1980s. David Stockman, move over -- the media have found a new darling.
