How to Debunk the "Liberal Media" Myth

Tuesday Apr 23, 2013 · 4:09 PM PDT

2013/04/23 · 16:09

Next time you hear a right-winger accuse the mainstream media of "liberal bias", please feel free to forward, cut and paste (keep in mind the links are abbreviated & will need to be re-typed), or edit the below response:

If the media are so liberal, where are all the Union-friendly news shows? I see lots of pro-big business & pro-investor shows. Where are the shows for worker interests? And, other than MSNBC, where are the pro-Union guests? I see lots of guests making the pro-corporate, anti-union arguments. Where are all the union defenders in the "liberal" media?
http://fair.org/...

If the media are so liberal, why do they keep focusing on debt/deficit/austerity and not the arguments against austerity that all the liberal economists are making?

If the media are so liberal, why did they ignore the 2011 Tar Sands protests in DC and the hundreds of arrested protesters, including a renowned NASA scientist?

If the media are so liberal, why have they completely ignored the controversy surrounding the drilling of the Alberta Tar Sands?

If the media are so liberal, why did they parrot Bush's link between Iraq & 9/11, and his claim that Iraq still had WMD's, while ignoring the many experts who could disprove these claims?

If the media are so liberal, why did they cheerlead us into the Iraq war, while censoring those who opposed it?

If the media are so liberal, why did they virtually ignore the largest anti-war protest in the history of mankind on the eve of the Iraq invasion in 2003, but have since given plenty of mostly uncritical coverage of much smaller Tea Party protests?
Here’s a typical CNN segment on the Tea Party. It’s 3+ minutes of free promotion w/o any criticism:
http://www.youtube.com/...

If the media are so liberal, why did they give so much free publicity to Paul Ryan's "brave", "heroic" budget plan,
http://www.fair.org/...
...while they ignored the Progressive Caucus's People's Budget?
http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/...

If the media are so liberal, why did even Bush's own press secretary think the media was too deferential to him?
http://www.salon.com/...

If the media are so liberal, why did they run the fake ACORN voter fraud stories & the faked ACORN video stings, then virtually ignore it when ACORN was vindicated and proven innocent of both?
http://www.factcheck.org/...
http://mediamatters.org/...
http://www.youtube.com/...
http://www.fair.org/...
http://mediamatters.org/...
http://www.bradblog.com/...
http://www.bradblog.com/...

If the media are so liberal, then why do the "liberal" TV stations gladly air tons of liberal-bashing campaign ads by right-wing groups?

If the media are so liberal, why do they keep covering-up for Wall Street and hiding the rampant criminality there?
http://www.alternet.org/...

If the media are so liberal, why was their coverage of right-winger Margaret Thatcher's controversial legacy so fawning and one-sided?
http://www.fair.org/...
http://www.fair.org/...

If the media are so liberal, why did they ignore proven and admitted GOP election fraud?
http://www.alternet.org/...
http://www.ukprogressive.co.uk/...
http://www.salon.com/...
http://www.bradblog.com/...

If the media are so liberal, why is there a virtual news blackout of the Trans-Pacific Partnership controversy?
http://en.wikipedia.org/...

If the media are so liberal, why did they virtually ignore the biggest climate change rally in US history on Februray 17?
http://fair.org/...
Since then, I've seen plenty of right-wing guests on the news urging Obama to approve Keystone and criticizing him for delaying it (even just this morning on MSNBC, with zero argument from the host!), but nobody to explain why there's a huge movement against it.

If the media are so liberal, why did they constantly demonize leftist Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, even promoting anti-Chavez disinfo?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
http://itsoureconomy.us/...
http://truth-out.org/...

If the media are so liberal, why do they treat far-right views as mainstream?
http://www.alternet.org/...

If the media are so liberal, why was coverage of Occupy Wall Street mostly hostile or dismissive?
(Find me ANY example where CNN treated the Tea Party this harshly:
http://www.youtube.com/... )
From Henry A. Giroux: "Missing from both the dominant media and state and national politics was any attempt to critically engage the issues the protesters were raising, not to mention any attempt to dialogue with them over their strategies, tactics, and political concerns."
I could go on and on...

And if you try to argue that all my sources above are themselves "liberally biased", you'd just be proving my point. If the truly liberal alternative media are the only ones pointing these things out, then obviously the mainstream corporate media isn't very liberal, is it?

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