Beyond Bias : Conservative Media, Documentary Form, and the Politics of Hysteria

“Bias” is a term that circulates frequently in the contemporary landscape of political media, a term intended to diagnose a failure when media outlets fail to maintain journalistic objectivity. Beyond Bias interrogates what would seem, at first glance, to be examples of utterly biased political media—contemporary conservative documentary films. However, rather than dismiss such cases of political representation as exemplars of ideological nonsense, reactionary propaganda, and so on, Beyond Bias locates in conservative media a mode of discourse central to contemporary democratic debate in the United States. Specifically, this book identifies conservative media as a mode of hysterical discourse. As the book makes clear, hysterical political discourse occurs when debate is simulated as a means to avoid a more substantive exchange. Drawing from psychoanalytic theories of hysteria and aesthetic politics, and likewise by placing conservative documentaries in the context of many concerns central to Documentary Studies (participation, observation, representation, the archive, etc.), Beyond Bias views conservative documentary, and conservative media and politics more generally, not as the biased excesses of the contemporary political landscape but rather as texts central to understanding the implicit, though sometimes affectively traumatic, antagonisms inevitable in democracy and constitutive of democratic debate. ""Bias" is a term that circulates frequently in the contemporary landscape of political media, a term intended to diagnose a failure when media outlets fail to maintain journalistic objectivity. Beyond Bias interrogates what would seem, at first glance, to be cases of utterly biased examples of political media-contemporary conservative documentary films. However, rather than dismiss such examples of political representation as exemplars of ideological nonsense, reactionary propaganda, etc., Beyond Bias locates in such examples of conservative media a mode of discourse central to contemporary democratic debate in the US. Specifically, this book identifies conservative media as a mode of hysterical discourse. As the book makes clear, hysterical political discourse occurs when debate is simulated as a means to avoid a more substantive exchange; when appeals to compromise function as a screen to blur the distinctions between opposing sides or viewpoints; as recourse to any and all opinions or "alternative facts" conducive to conservatism's ideological priorities, no matter how divorced from reality; through the reduction of complex issues into moral binaries; through the depoliticizing emphasis on form over content; and, ultimately, as a sustained means to "police" the political with excess nonsense and noise that drowns out any alternative voices. Drawing from psychoanalytic theories of hysteria (Jacques Lacan, Juliet Mitchell, Teresa Brennan, Christopher Bollas, and others) and Jacques Rancière's aesthetic politics, and likewise by placing conservative documentaries in the context of many concerns central to Documentary Studies (participation, observation, representation, the archive, etc.), Beyond Bias views conservative documentary, and conservative media and politics more generally, not as the biased excesses of the contemporary political landscape but rather as texts central to understanding the implicit, though sometimes affectively traumatic, antagonisms inevitable in democracy and constitutive of democratic debate"-- Provided by publisher Beyond Bias offers the first scholarly study of contemporary right-wing documentary film and video. Drawing from contemporary work in political theory and psychoanalytic theory, the book identifies what author Scott Krzych describes as the hysterical discourse prolific in conservative documentary in particular, and right-wing media more generally. In its hysterical mode, conservative media emphasizes form over content, relies on the spectacle of debate to avoid substantive dialogue, mimics the aesthetic devices of its opponents, reduces complex political issues to moral dichotomies, and relies on excessive displays of opinion to produce so much mediated "noise" as to drown out alternative perspectives or viewpoints.Though often derided for its reliance on nonsense or hyperbole, conservative media marshals incoherence as its prized aesthetic and rhetorical weapon, a means to bolster the political status quo precisely by confusing those audiences who come into its orbit. As a work of documentary studies, Beyond Bias also places conservative non-fiction films in conversation with their more conventional counterparts, drawing insight from the manner by which conservative media hystericizes such issues as the archive, observational methods, directorial participation, and the often moral imperatives by which documentary filmmakers attempt to offer insight into their subjects. Beyond Bias offers the first scholarly study of contemporary right-wing documentary film and video. Drawing from contemporary work in political theory and psychoanalytic theory, the book identifies what author Scott Krzych describes as the hysterical discourse prolific in conservative documentary in particular, and right-wing media more generally. In its hysterical mode, conservative media emphasizes form over content, relies on the spectacle of debate to avoid substantive dialogue, mimics the aesthetic devices of its opponents, reduces complex political issues to moral dichotomies, and relies on excessive displays of opinion to produce so much mediated "noise" as to drown out alternative perspectives or viewpoints. Though often derided for its reliance on nonsense or hyperbole, conservative media marshals incoherence as its prized aesthetic and rhetorical weapon, a means to bolster the political status quo precisely by confusing those audiences who come into its orbit. As a work of documentary studies, Beyond Bias also places conservative non-fiction films in conversation with their more conventional counterparts, drawing insight from the manner by which conservative media hystericizes such issues as the archive, observational methods, directorial participation, and the often moral imperatives by which documentary filmmakers attempt to offer insight into their subjects. Cover 1 Half-Title 2 Title 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 Half-Title 14 PART I: DEMOCRACY, MEDIA, PSYCHOANALYSIS 16 Introduction: Political Hysteria and the Traumatic Insights of Conservative Media 18 1. Hysterical Bias and Democratic Representations 44 PART II: POLITICS, DOCUMENTARY FORM, AND HYSTERICAL DISCOURSE 70 2. Biased Beliefs: Common Sense, Creativity, and Creationism 72 3. Policing with Noise: Lacan, Rancière, and Documentary Participation 108 4. Economies of Inattention: Privacy, Publicity, and the Interests of Observation 156 5. Paradigmatic Politics: Stock Footage and the Hysterical Archive 203 Conclusion: Post-.Truth and Other Biases 236 Notes 242 Bibliography 260 Index 266 'Bias' is a term that circulates frequently in the contemporary landscape of political media, a term intended to diagnose a failure when media outlets fail to maintain journalistic objectivity. 'Beyond Bias' interrogates what would seem, at first glance, to be examples of utterly biased political media-contemporary conservative documentary films. However, rather than dismiss such cases of political representation as exemplars of ideological nonsense, reactionary propaganda, and so on, the text locates. in conservative media. a mode of discourse central to contemporary democratic debate in the United States. Specifically, this book identifies conservative media as a mode of hysterical discourse How does contemporary right-wing media work? In Beyond Bias, author Scott Krzych untangles recent right-wing documentary film and video to show how it privileges form over content and marshals incoherence as its prized aesthetic and rhetorical weapon