Posted on 03/03/2006 2:53:07 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Eric Alterman, a columnist for the Nation magazine, has been one of the country's most outspoken critics of those who claim that the U.S. media slant toward liberals.
His 2003 book, "What Liberal Media?," did a masterful job of exposing the myth that the right wing in America has been peddling for years. Yes, there are "liberal" publications The Capital Times and the Nation would fit in that category but they are few and far between in this country, Alterman contends.
He always points to the old studies that purport to show reporters vote Democratic. When not biased in the first place, he says, the studies never tell anything about the content of news. A number of Rupert Murdoch's top lieutenants, for instance, claim to be liberal Democrats. That fact certainly hasn't made Fox News liberal.
Alterman contends that the country's mainstream media have actually lurched to the right "thanks in large measure to an extremely well-funded, well-organized and well-disciplined conservative political assault comprising, essentially, two tactics: a willingness (and ability) to make life miserable for those who don't go along, and a determination to shape the zeitgeist in such a way that those who do go along may not even know they're doing so."
In a recent column with the headline "The Gasbag Gap," Alterman takes aim at the Sunday morning talk shows on the major television networks to make his point.
He cites a new study by David Brock's Media Matters for America titled "If It's Sunday, It's Conservative." The study analyzed the content of ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos," CBS's "Face the Nation" and NBC's "Meet the Press," classifying each one of the nearly 7,000 guests from Bill Clinton's second term, George W. Bush's first term and 2005 as either Democrat, Republican, conservative, progressive or neutral.
The balance between Democrats/progressives and Republicans/conservatives during Clinton's second term, he reports, gave the GOP/conservatives a slight edge over the Dems/progressives 52 to 48 percent. In other words, fairly equal.
During Bush's first term, though, the right held a dramatic advantage over the left, 58 to 42 percent, and the same ratio carried through in 2005. When the shows were contacted, Alterman wrote, they explained that happened because today the action is Republican/conservative. But if that were true, how come the guests didn't tilt the Dems' way when Clinton was in power?
The networks seem to think that a William Safire or Bob Novak, two staunch conservatives, can be balanced by a Gwen Ifill (PBS) or a Dan Balz (a Washington Post reporter), two neutral journalists.
"Indeed, as far as critical commentary goes, with the occasional exception of E.J. Dionne, there's not a single unapologetic liberal on any of these shows, save perhaps an annual appearance as a kind of anthropological curiosity," Alterman opined. "Tune in to every show every week for a year and you are unlikely to see Frank Rich, Paul Krugman, Rick Hertzberg or anyone associated with the Nation, the American Prospect, the Washington Monthly, Mother Jones...
'When you think about it, it is a tribute to the American people that they remain as receptive to liberal arguments as they do, given how infrequently they hear them," he added.
Can't see the forest for the trees.
All this book did was demonstrate that rich people run networks, and their bias is that rich = republican. Wrong.
The slap happy dumping on Bush day in and day out is proof enough that the left controls the MSM, even a good bit of Fox News, which spreads the left spin a bit too much for me.
No Bias? Really? I don't watch the MSM anymore.
This sort of lying is going to be repeated over and over until the SHeeple fall for it and elect her...
David Brock...who's been on a personal crusade to blunt the impact of conservative media.
To me, thats just funny.
-...ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos," CBS's "Face the Nation" and NBC's "Meet the Press,"...-
Well, sure, if you count conservatives having to DEFEND themselves constantly as "conservative press" you could get those conservative numbers up there somehow. Sheesh.
More bong water hallucinations.
What a crock! What conservatives are on CNN, ABC, CBS, etc...? Conservatives, so long locked out of the mainstream media, have created their own outlets such as talk radio. The success of this has led to an failed liberal imitation due to the many other outlets of liberal news. Namely, the mainstream press.
"a tribute to the American people that they remain as receptive to liberal arguments as they do, GIVEN HOW INFREQUENTLY THEY HEAR THEM"
That has to be the joke of the week!
I'm sorry. I couldn't hear you. What did you say? The roar of the left msm is drowing you out.
Sheesh. ; ).
This is hilarious. Simply consider that people like Chris Matthews, George Stephanapolous, and Tim Russert actually used to work for Democrat politicians.
Alterman has been saying this for years and years.
If the liberal message was so good .. CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC would not be losing viewer share, and the NYT and WP would not be losing readership.
You can't argue with facts.
We gotta keep fighting back.
Good tagline! And yes, we DO have to keep fighting. I fear that our conservative representatives in Congress have gotten very lazy and flabby since 1994.
Maybe a little shake up in some quarters will wake up the party? I can't find anyone in public office these days that's conservative enough for me. Our conservative base is being undercut right now and I think they under-estimate the power of the MSM when it comes to spoon-feeding the more liberal masses disinformation every day.
Just because most of us here are political junkies, we're definately the "informed minority" when it comes to the voting issues.
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| Public disclosure: Media are finally admitting their biases.
Creator of 'Mr. Sterling' Admits: We TV Writers Are '99% Leftist'
NewsMax.com ^ | 5/27/03 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff
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| Professor's Study Shows Liberal Bias in News Media | ||||||
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Great Debate#9 Break up Microsoft?...Then how about the media "Big Six"? [ ... -Poll confirms Ivy League liberal tilt--
A poll by the Center for the Study of Social and Political Change in 1992, eighty-three percent of film and television writers, directors and producers voted for Bill Clinton. Eighty-three percent. The vote that Clinton received in the country at large, forty-three percent.
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