There are some truths that should be self evident. There are also falsehoods that are believed without question. One such falsehood: There is a left-wing media bias. One such truth: There is a right-wing media bias. The falsehood has been so drummed into our heads, it has become "conventional wisdom."
I've been reading a 2004 book by David Brock, called The Republican Noise Machine, which should be read by anyone who doesn't believe my first paragraph. I'm only part-way through the book, so I expect to do a more thorough post about it after I've finished it. But I was compelled to plug it early, because it is so jarring. Mr. Brock is a former in-the-trenches right-wing writer, who had a change of heart. This gives him an insider's view that can't be known as well from the outside. And he details the concerted effort of the right-wing to infiltrate and virtually take over the mainstream media.
I've always treated the conventional wisdom on bias with a bit of skepticism. After all, I can probably name a dozen right-wing partisan journalists/commentators off the top of my head. Let's see: George Will, Peggy Noonan, Robert Novak, William Kristol, Brit Hume, Bernard Goldberg, David Horowitz, Christopher Hitchins, Andrew Sullivan, Lou Dobbs, Brent Bozell, and David Brooks. Then there are the pundits: Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, David Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, Oliver North, Tucker Carlson, Joe Scarborough, Bill O'Reilly, Mark Levin, Michael Savage, Michael Medved, I could go on and on.
But who are the liberal counterparts? I'm drawing a blank on the liberal journalists/commentators (outside of David Brock himself). I can do better on the pundits: Stephanie Miller, Randi Rhodes, Al Franken, Thom Hartmann, and Rachel Maddow. And THAT is only because I listen to Air America Radio. And there isn't one on this list I'd call an actual counterpart to the lists above. How many of those names did you know?
The fact is, if news and news commentary is skewed at all, it is skewed heavily to the right. The right-wing would claim that talk radio and FOX "News" are only a counterpoint to the rest of the media's left-wing skew. Where is the evidence? It is my belief that their complaint is not so much a left-wing slant, but a lack of a right-wing slant that they are lamenting. My evidence is, well, what they've done to FOX "News" and talk radio. They went right 'round the bend, pushing bias further than any left-wing fever dream they'd ever imagined. Right-wing views are HEAVILY represented. Who do we get. . .Alan Colmes?
I've been reading a 2004 book by David Brock, called The Republican Noise Machine, which should be read by anyone who doesn't believe my first paragraph. I'm only part-way through the book, so I expect to do a more thorough post about it after I've finished it. But I was compelled to plug it early, because it is so jarring. Mr. Brock is a former in-the-trenches right-wing writer, who had a change of heart. This gives him an insider's view that can't be known as well from the outside. And he details the concerted effort of the right-wing to infiltrate and virtually take over the mainstream media.
I've always treated the conventional wisdom on bias with a bit of skepticism. After all, I can probably name a dozen right-wing partisan journalists/commentators off the top of my head. Let's see: George Will, Peggy Noonan, Robert Novak, William Kristol, Brit Hume, Bernard Goldberg, David Horowitz, Christopher Hitchins, Andrew Sullivan, Lou Dobbs, Brent Bozell, and David Brooks. Then there are the pundits: Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, David Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, Oliver North, Tucker Carlson, Joe Scarborough, Bill O'Reilly, Mark Levin, Michael Savage, Michael Medved, I could go on and on.
But who are the liberal counterparts? I'm drawing a blank on the liberal journalists/commentators (outside of David Brock himself). I can do better on the pundits: Stephanie Miller, Randi Rhodes, Al Franken, Thom Hartmann, and Rachel Maddow. And THAT is only because I listen to Air America Radio. And there isn't one on this list I'd call an actual counterpart to the lists above. How many of those names did you know?
The fact is, if news and news commentary is skewed at all, it is skewed heavily to the right. The right-wing would claim that talk radio and FOX "News" are only a counterpoint to the rest of the media's left-wing skew. Where is the evidence? It is my belief that their complaint is not so much a left-wing slant, but a lack of a right-wing slant that they are lamenting. My evidence is, well, what they've done to FOX "News" and talk radio. They went right 'round the bend, pushing bias further than any left-wing fever dream they'd ever imagined. Right-wing views are HEAVILY represented. Who do we get. . .Alan Colmes?
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