The Liberal Media
I know everyone in the blog world and otherwise has had their say on this matter, and I'm sure their thoughts and comments are more reasoned and eloquent than mine, but I'm tired of the whole thing and I need to speak to it.
If you want to see the others, Eric Alterman's book "What Liberal Media?" is a great source. Atrios frequently points out the fallacy of what he refers to as the "Librul Media". And Bartcop offers The Myth of the Liberal Media.
My point is not so much that I'm tired of hearing people on the right complaining about the liberal media (although I'm absolutely exhauted by it) and that it has become an accepted concept in the mainstream and even on the left. Wait a minute - that probably should be my point because it's just pure jibberish. But one thing at a time.
What really bothers me is that there isn't the completely opposite dynamic at play. The media (mainstream or otherwise) is profoundly conservative. Look at the coverage of any major issue and you'll find that the routine, newspaper/nightly news coverage is at least absent any aggressive looks at conserative excess/corruption/general sleaziness. They are either so scared of being called by Brent Bozell for liberal bias or so tamed by their corporate masters that they dare not actually speak the news.
And if you go a level deeper into the commentariat or punditocracy, the ratio is something like 8 to 1 conservative to moderate. They rarely let a true liberal in the door. CNN, MSNBC, no point bringing up Fox, talk radio, syndicated columnists, Meet the Press, This Week. If you want a liberal, they trot out Doris Kearns Goodwin (not that I dislike her particularly, but she's not exactly a street fighter) or well...I guess E.J. Dionne gets a gig now and then. So you get overwhelming number preference to the right, combined with matching fire eating monsters against conciliatory academics and no wonder everything tilts right.
Where's the outrage? Where's the constant drumbeat about the conservative media? Where is the widely publicized Annenberg Study that documents the far right bias? Where is the left convincing the middle?
I hope the answer is that it's coming. Too slow for me, but websites like Daily Kos and Atrios and Altercation and the Center for American Progress and Media Matters for America (you gotta love David Brock) and, of course, Air America Radio, are starting to make a difference. The problem is that we're so far behind, by the time we get what Kos calls the Vast Left Wing Conspiracy up and running, we'll be living in a dictatorship and the free press will be what Dick Cheney damn well wants it to be.
What's the answer to that? Easy. Pay attention. Watch the crap and write letters. Read the sites listed above and know your arguments. Then tell everyone you know, even the right wing wackos. Hit them with facts and statistics from MMA or Alterman's book. Know the common lies and logical fallacies that appear every day on the right. Start you own blog and get 50 people you know to read it.
Do something. Now.
If you want to see the others, Eric Alterman's book "What Liberal Media?" is a great source. Atrios frequently points out the fallacy of what he refers to as the "Librul Media". And Bartcop offers The Myth of the Liberal Media.
My point is not so much that I'm tired of hearing people on the right complaining about the liberal media (although I'm absolutely exhauted by it) and that it has become an accepted concept in the mainstream and even on the left. Wait a minute - that probably should be my point because it's just pure jibberish. But one thing at a time.
What really bothers me is that there isn't the completely opposite dynamic at play. The media (mainstream or otherwise) is profoundly conservative. Look at the coverage of any major issue and you'll find that the routine, newspaper/nightly news coverage is at least absent any aggressive looks at conserative excess/corruption/general sleaziness. They are either so scared of being called by Brent Bozell for liberal bias or so tamed by their corporate masters that they dare not actually speak the news.
And if you go a level deeper into the commentariat or punditocracy, the ratio is something like 8 to 1 conservative to moderate. They rarely let a true liberal in the door. CNN, MSNBC, no point bringing up Fox, talk radio, syndicated columnists, Meet the Press, This Week. If you want a liberal, they trot out Doris Kearns Goodwin (not that I dislike her particularly, but she's not exactly a street fighter) or well...I guess E.J. Dionne gets a gig now and then. So you get overwhelming number preference to the right, combined with matching fire eating monsters against conciliatory academics and no wonder everything tilts right.
Where's the outrage? Where's the constant drumbeat about the conservative media? Where is the widely publicized Annenberg Study that documents the far right bias? Where is the left convincing the middle?
I hope the answer is that it's coming. Too slow for me, but websites like Daily Kos and Atrios and Altercation and the Center for American Progress and Media Matters for America (you gotta love David Brock) and, of course, Air America Radio, are starting to make a difference. The problem is that we're so far behind, by the time we get what Kos calls the Vast Left Wing Conspiracy up and running, we'll be living in a dictatorship and the free press will be what Dick Cheney damn well wants it to be.
What's the answer to that? Easy. Pay attention. Watch the crap and write letters. Read the sites listed above and know your arguments. Then tell everyone you know, even the right wing wackos. Hit them with facts and statistics from MMA or Alterman's book. Know the common lies and logical fallacies that appear every day on the right. Start you own blog and get 50 people you know to read it.
Do something. Now.
posted by John at 6:11 PM
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