National Groups Come Together To Fight Media Bias

It’s fair to say the real war against media bias has begun. A conservative leadership summit to confront media bias is meeting in Washington, D.C. this week to formulate strategy for a nationwide battle against mainstream media bias.

The invitation to the summit, sent out by Don Irvine, chairman of Accuracy in Media, a leading media watchdog, explained the summit this way:

“We all know the role a biased, leftist media played in selecting Barack Obama, who was largely a media creation. In the last election, the media’s support was worth hundreds of millions of dollars and legions of campaign workers. It seems with each election cycle, the media becomes more biased and more brazen. If we don’t act now, 2010 and 2012 will be disastrous repeats of 2008.

“The purpose of this summit is to formulate a joint plan of action to confront and combat media bias that much of the conservative movement’s leadership can endorse and participate in…

“Instead of doing the same things we’ve been doing for years, we hope to strike off in new directions, develop new techniques and try new approaches — and do so as a coalition, rather than separate organizations, with each focusing on its own concerns.”

The invitations to the event came from the invitation committee of the “Conservative Leadership Summit to Confront Media Bias.” The committee is made up by a high-powered group of nationally known figures that include Mr. Irvine, mentioned above; Gary Bauer, American Values; Bill Donohue, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights; Wendy Wright, Concerned Women for America; Phyllis Schlafly, Eagle Forum; Morton Blackwell, The Leadership Institute; Brent Bozell, Media Research Center; and Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas).

The invitation-only event will bring together 50 leaders in the battle against media bias. I’m honored to have been selected to attend. In preparation for that summit, I’ve put together some suggestions on what has to be done to fight media bias. Here are a few of those suggestions:

Media Bias Can Literally Destroy The U.S.

1. The first thing that has to be done is to educate the public about the central importance of fighting media bias. In my view, the mainstream media is literally destroying the country, by coverage that is so biased, dishonest, leftist and fraudulent that the public is getting only one side of the news. It’s as though those who rely on the mainstream media are blind in one eye, and have vision that blacks out half of the news and half of the world. This is leading to decisions based on incomplete and often erroneous information and that means the decisions are often mistaken and dangerous.

The best example of that is the mainstream media selling an untested, unvetted, inexperienced candidate for the presidency with wild radical ideas and a parade of associates that include terrorists, bigots, racists, and even a crook (since convicted). If the public had the full story, President Barack Obama probably would not have been elected. And he could not be doing what may destroy our economy, cripple our national defense and national security mechanisms, and, in effect, repeal the Constitution through appointment of judges who will substitute their liberal agenda for the intent of the Framers of the Constitution and of the legislators responsible for our laws. So when the public understands what media bias means, perhaps the destruction of America, that public will be easily enlisted to take necessary action.

The Importance Of The Alternative Media

2. One major part of educating the public on media bias should consist of educating them on the alternative media. Even if they want to continue to follow the mainstream media, they should also temper that with information from the alternative media.

In the age of the Internet, everyone has free access to almost all of the newspapers of the world including such conservative standards as the Washington Times and the Washington Examiner. I’d also include Investor’s Business Daily, which I think has the best editorial and op-ed page s in the country. Of course, there’s the Wall Street Journal, which charges for complete access, but has some free access. It is one of the best conservative papers in the country. There are a few other strong conservative newspapers including The Philadelphia Bulletin and The New York Post.

When it comes to the broadcast media, there are the conservative talk show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glen Beck, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Laura Ingraham, Hugh Hewitt, Michael Savage, Bill Bennett and many others.

On television, there’s the Fox Cable News Network.

The leading conservative magazines are The National Review, Weekly Standard, Town Hall and NewsMax, among others.

Finally, there is a wealth of material on the Internet. I look over about a dozen newspapers every day from all segments of the spectrum. It is as if the conservative and liberal papers are reporting on two different worlds. And on occasion, it seems as if some of the leftist mainstream media are reporting fiction rather than fact. A boycott coalition could perform a valuable service by publishing lists of biased media outlets along with lists of those that can be trusted to provide more fair and balanced material.

Growing More Media Boycotts

3. One of the best ways to let the mainstream media know that their biased journalism will not payoff is to boycott them. Accuracy in Media has taken a major step in the boycott battle with its campaign to boycott The New York Times and the campaign’s Web site, www.

boycottnyt.com. I’d suggest that some organization set up a prototype of that site that can be used by other groups to boycott any media outlet they want to target.

Similar boycotts should be launched against all the leading mainstream media outlets such as The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, PBS, Time, and Newsweek for starters. Another approach would be to establish a national boycott site, with sections on each of the major outlets. It goes without saying that this is the perfect time for boycotts, as so many of the mainstream media are in financial stress. The boycotts should also be directed at advertisers, and that may be a more potent device with the mobilization of a national boycott. Some newspapers are already in bankruptcy such as The Philadelphia Inquirer, and others may be close to it ... hopefully The New York Times.

The national boycott site could contain tips and recommended approaches for boycotting newspapers and other media outlets. I actively participated in a boycott of The Philadelphia Inquirer, and all of those involved learned lessons that would be invaluable to others. This suggests a site where everyone could send suggestions and ideas on fighting media bias.

Bringing Together All Victims Of Media Bias

4. Those leading the national boycott should bring together all the interest groups that have been victimized by the bias of the mainstream media. These groups should be brought together to form a common front against the bias of the mainstream media.

Among such groups are Republican Party organizations, conservative groups, veterans’ and other military organizations, the National Rifle Association, various groups that fight the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic bias of the mainstream media, law enforcement organizations, and many other.

Opening Up Presidential Press Conferences And Briefings

5. Two of the most pathetic examples of the mainstream media can be found at Presidential press conferences and the daily press briefings in the White House. There should be an attempt to get more reporters who will challenge the president with questions rather than cheerlead for him with softballs.

Any media outlet can apply for credentials and most are accepted, according to an e-mail I received from the White House. This could begin to change these press events from virtually scripted campaign commercials into real press conferences. Another useful device would be for some group to grade the quality of each reporter’s question after each conference. Perhaps this grading organization could make a special award, perhaps called the Chris Matthews Cup (or perhaps the MSNBC Cup), to the worst reporter of each conference.

Publicizing The Media Watchdogs

6. The public should be educated on media watchdogs and the kind of information they can provide. Among the leaders are AIM, already mentioned several times, and the Media Research Center. In addition there are two media watchdogs that focus on news out of the Middle East, Camera and Honest Reporting.

All of these groups can make valuable suggestions on how to mount letter-writing campaigns and take other action. For example, I find Camera’s periodic reports on corrections they’ve been able to bring forth from the media to be valuable. They show all those involved that their work is productive.

A Drudge-Style Report On Media Bias

7. I’d also suggest that one of the media watchdogs create a Web site for media bias along the lines of the Drudge Report. The site would link to all the reports, columns, and other publications on media bias. Perhaps some of the reporters and columnists linked on such a site would provide permission for other outlets to reprint their work without charge.

Bringing Everyone Into The Anti-Bias Campaign

8. Of course, we need the public to play a major role in the battle against mainstream media bias. For starters, they can start boycotting some of the mainstream media. I always recommend, for openers, boycotting The New York Times (and sign the petition on www.boycottnyt.com). We need these people to write letters to the editors and make calls to broadcast outlets when they encounter media bias. They can also press reporters to do some stories on media bias. In addition, they ought to lend their support to some of the excellent media watchdogs, such as those named above.

Reminding The Media And Everyone Else Of The Role Of The Media

9. Finally, perhaps what is needed most of all to get back to some of the basics of the great American democracy. It depends on the media for the information needed to make a democracy properly function. We have too many mainstream media outlets not performing, as our system requires. This is not a liberal or conservative perspective, but an American perspective. And for the sake of our national survival we better pay attention to that perspective.

Media Bias As Part Of A Larger Problem

10. The strategy to fight mainstream leftist bias should take into account that we face a broader problem caused by leftist college and universities that are often in the business of brainwashing rather than educating students and this problem now extends down into primary and secondary education.

The people battling this educational disease perhaps should be brought into the coalition that fights media bias. That’s because those fighting the leftist bias in colleges and universities are engaged essentially in the same battle as the media coalition and they would also have much to teach the media people about tactics and strategy.

For example, David Horowitz, founder of the Freedom Center, and author of such books as The Professors and Indoctrination U, has special expertise in understanding the mental disease of liberalism and in getting action to reform a broken system.

Herb Denenberg is a former Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commissioner, and professor at the Wharton School. He is a longtime Philadelphia journalist and consumer advocate. He is also a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of the Sciences. His column appears daily in The Bulletin. You can reach him at advocate@thebulletin.us.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.