Well, for years now – maybe decades – I have patiently listened to the right wing talking heads, conservative politicos, and even some of my Republican friends railing against the "liberal press". Or as they say, "If only ‘The Media’ would report things accurately, and without liberal bias, all would be well. It’s ‘The Media’, stupid".
Well, for years now – maybe decades – I have patiently listened to the right wing talking heads, conservative politicos, and even some of my Republican friends railing against the "liberal press". Or as they say, "If only ‘The Media’ would report things accurately, and without liberal bias, all would be well. It’s ‘The Media’, stupid".
Well, I guess my patience has finally run out as I watched Sean Hannity the other night perpetuating this claim, and as the saying goes, "I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!" It’s not that I mind being attacked for my liberal leanings, or even that conservative talk show hosts are given to making outlandish statements. My complaint is simply that the so-called liberal bias of "The Media" is simply not true!
Look at the facts. Look at the ownership of media in America. And, finally, define for me; what is "The Media"? After spending 45 years as owner of several ad agencies, media is something I know a bit about.
To begin with, there really is no "The Media" in our country, "The" media is huge, diverse, and the mainstream is heavily in control of massive media corporations with absolutely no evidence of liberal agendas. In fact, in a sense, it proves just the opposite. Just a few examples typify this.
Take the Rupert Murdoch empire of News Corp: all the Fox networks and many many stations, Direct TV, NY Post, 20th Century Fox, plus 175 newspapers, and now the venerable Wall St. Journal – are they "The" media? If so, the conservatives are getting a bum deal, because Murdoch is an unabashed defender of the right.
Maybe it is Time Warner? They own Time, Warner Bros, TW Cable, CNN, AOL (more about that later), and much more. Are they the ones spewing all this liberal misdirection?
To me, NBC has one of the best news departments going. But, they are owned by GE! Hardly a liberal lapdog. GE also owns MSNBC, CNBC, Bravo, and more; and partners with Vivendi, a huge international media giant. Maybe it is GE that is sending out all this negativity about America?
No? Well then, look to those Hearst folks reporting all that misinformation. Hearst owns 12 metro daily newspapers; 28 TV stations; and 20 Business-to-Business magazines, which are the very core of conservative editorials. Are they "The" media causing so much dissent?
Then there are the thousands of independent radio stations; hundreds of independent local TV outlets, thousands of local newspapers and magazines too numerous to mention, and "The" media simply does not exist as a monolithic voice for unrest. I also noted AOL earlier – add to all this, the news now carried on the Internet, and what you really have is diverse and wide-ranging voices for opinion and news. And, certainly not an overwhelming unified voice for negativity. "The Media" is a myth. Period.
Ah, but then there is the dreaded "Times Twins" – the LA Times, and the NY Times! The poster children of the liberal dogma. Therein lies the rub. They, apparently, are "The" media. The ones causing all this trouble and discontent. There are two noteworthy points about these papers. First, less than 1/3 of 1% of the American public actually read these papers. But secondly, I acknowledge that a vast number of additional folks do read or see on TV, stories from the NY Times in the form of wire service stories, syndications, and other forms of journalistic pick ups. (local papers frequently pick up NY Times articles). So they do have influence, but mostly because within the journalistic world The Times is viewed as paragons of good writing and solid reporting.
So now, perhaps we can agree the press is not owned by liberal entities.
But then, there is the ongoing suspicion, that within the journalistic community, and inside the newsrooms, there are those "closet" liberals that skew the news. Well, there is no evidence of that, only a claim. Indeed, the same claim could be made, lacking any evidence, that there are "closet" conservatives, too. However, my own belief regarding this, is that in the more prominent and influential media, the newsrooms are populated by professionals who report news without favor or bias. Just the way it should be!
On the radio front, you can get all the earfuls you want of Hannity, Limbaugh, O’Reilly, Beck, and even hear the truth being savaged, by Michael Savage. Yes, you can listen to Air America, but their portion of the radio dial is fractional compared to The Patriot and many other right leaning stations.
So, what is this all about? First, a liberal cabal does certainly not dominate the news in our country; indeed, it is now almost solely owned by massive media corporations (including our own local newspapers and most local radio stations). Secondly, there is no "The Media" in our country, it is wide-ranging and diverse in nature. Thirdly, it is my opinion that the major reason the righties like to blame "The Media" is to give them convenient cover for the failures of their friends in Washington: things in Iraq are fine if only so reported...the economy is wonderful, if only the press would report it...the income disparity in America is a myth, if only the press would report it more accurately...etc. It is simply the old story of killing the messenger if you don’t like the message. As a side note, regarding the Iraqi reporting, 2006 was the worst year for deaths of journalists with 155 killed in war-related actions -- 68 of those in Iraq. Far from being branded ideologues, in my mind these people were heroes attempting to bring America the news as it happens, from that war stricken country.
Well, any press worth its salt and an ounce of integrity will not report fiction and untruths; nor should the press in America skew the news towards any political bias, right or left. Evidence is they don’t now, and surely not with a liberal tilt; and let’s hope they never will. Then, I won’t have to be "mad as hell, and won’t have to take it anymore".