from George Monbiot's own blog.
The article discusses the favorable reception Matt Ridley received from mainstream media in the UK over recently published book, The Rational Optimist. Monbiot makes a convincing case that this is another very dramatic example of how big corporate media grossly favors those who favor unrestrained corporate rule.
This excellent illustration reminds me of the mainstream media coverage of the noted author, John Le Carré. Prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union he wrote numerous novels that focused on Russian and East European spy themes. Because they were "politically correct", he was given widespread publicity in mainstream media in the West.
But things radically changed after this period when Le Carré turned his attention to themes relating to Western spy agencies. Suddenly he was dropped from all coverage. One certainly cannot argue that the quality of his writing dramatically deteriorated. I think that his novels are better than ever. However, he has been relegated to obscurity in the literary world of the West. I was most startled by this fact during the course of a conversation I had with an English instructor at Oregon State University in 2000. He expressed surprise that Le Carré was still writing novels.
