Posted on 12/02/2002 2:14:47 PM PST by 1bigdictator
NPR's Liasson & Williams Back Gore on Right-Wing Media Control
There’s “some truth” to Al Gore’s conspiracy theory about media outlets getting their marching orders from Republican Party Chairman Marc Racicot, Juan Williams argued on Fox News Sunday. Mara Liasson agreed, explaining that what Gore was simply “expressing is deep frustration on the part of Democrats who are now truly out of power in Washington and they don’t have the kind of editorial voice representing them in the media...they can’t get their events covered, they feel that they can’t get their message out.”
This from Williams and Liasson, an analyst and a reporter respectively for National Public Radio, the leading broadcast media voice of liberal aspirations.
After suggesting Gore’s theory rests on “the edge of looniness,” columnist Charles Krauthammer pointed out the obvious: “Liberals have had a monopoly for about 30 years and all of a sudden one or two opposition forces arise -- Washington Times, Fox News, Weekly Standard -- and all of a sudden it’s a great conspiracy. This is absurd.”
Near the end of the panel segment on the December 1 Fox News Sunday, host Tony Snow read aloud some of what Gore told the New York Observer in an interview published earlier in the week.
Gore claimed: “Fox News Network, the Washington Times, Rush Limbaugh -- there’s a bunch of them, and some of them are financed by wealthy ultra-conservative billionaires who make political deals with Republican administrations and the rest of the media.”
Plus: “Something will start at the Republican National Committee, inside the building, and it will explode the next day on the right-wing talk show network and on Fox News and in the newspapers which play this game, the Washington Times and others.”
(For Gore's interview with the New York Observer's Josh Benson: http://www2.observer.com/observer/pages/frontpage1.asp)
Snow went first to NPR White House reporter Mara Liasson and she tried to justify Gore’s latest lashing out: “I think that what Al Gore is expressing is deep frustration on the part of Democrats who are now truly out of power in Washington and they don’t have the kind of editorial voice representing them in the media. There’s no doubt that the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal or the Washington Times or the New York Post or the commentary on Fox, is conservative and I think that they’re extremely frustrated, they can’t get their events covered, they feel that they can’t get their message out -- now having a message in the first place is another question -- but I think that’s a real kind of cry of frustration from Al Gore and other Democratic leaders have said the same thing.”
Charles Krauthammer countered: “A 'cry for help?’ I’m a psychiatrist, I don’t usually practice on camera, but this is the edge of looniness. This idea that there’s a vast conspiracy. It sits in a building, it emanates, it has these tentacles, is really at the edge. He could use a little help.”
Juan Williams, who until recently hosted a talk show for NPR, nonetheless agreed with Gore’s theory: “Well it seems to me that there’s some truth to it. It seems to me that there’s some truth to the idea, I know conservatives say 'oh you know look at the New York Times is this liberal organ especially under Howell Raines the new editor, they’re going after the Masters and all the rest,’ but you know what, it seems to me that there is more of a direct and sort of out there statement coming from Rush Limbaugh, and the Washington Times, and people who are willing to say look, we are outright proud to be conservative and here’s what we stand for and we don’t think there’s any need to make an apology.”
Krauthammer snickered: “Liberals have had a monopoly for about 30 years and all of a sudden one or two opposition forces arise -- Washington Times, Fox News, Weekly Standard -- and all of a sudden it’s a great conspiracy. This is absurd.”
But Liasson stood by Gore’s basic complaint about a media biased to the right: “I don’t think it’s a great conspiracy, but the fact is I think Juan is right. There are more voices of opinion in terms of talk radio shows, editorial pages and they’re not liberal.”
Fred Barnes got in the last word as time ran out: “They’re such a minority though. I’d like to think that conservatives had a bigger voice, but they’re such a small minority compared to this vast media we have out there, mostly liberal, mostly friendly to liberals and the Democratic Party, that Al Gore is just wrong.”
Bottom line: How many liberals would trade the liberal slant of ABC News, CBS News, CNN, MSNBC, NBC News and PBS, as well as the New York Times and Washington Post, for one cable news network, a Washington, DC newspaper out-sold seven-to-one in its home market and one national radio personality?
(Excerpt) Read more at mrc.org ...
Oh why must we vex the liberals by asking them to explain their heartfelt assertions? They feeeeeel unfairness is in the air, and that alone should suffice.
BTW Laisson's condescending school marm demeanor makes me want to wretch. FOX should dump her, much less pay her.
That's because all the liberals in the "main stream" do not reveal their bias - in other words, they lie to the listeners about being unbiased.
Conservative commentators on the radio proudly proclaim their political orientation, because they don't have to hide what they truly are.
The problem, of course, is that the Democrats did get their message out--loud and clear.
Just when you think these fools couldn't possibly get more deluded...they surprise you again!
Just stick your heads back down in the sand. That's a good place for you.
Think about that. Not to mention NPR and a whole gaggle of other newspapers like the LA Times and Boston Globe. Just a few voices of dissent and they can't take it.
Har-dee har har.
Actually, I don't think the liberal advantage is as great as it appears because of the quality and content of the respective audiences. Readers of the WashTimes and listeners to Rush are almost all committed conservatives. I also betcha Fox News is stoked with conservative refugees from CNN and the Big Three networks. Research shows the talk radio audience is better educated and wealthier - and they vote.
In contrast, many people watch the Big Three or take a major newspaper out of inertia or to get sports scores or because no alternative is available. I personally take two liberal papers, the Denver Post and NY Times because they give me a good overview of what's happening locally and in the world. I read them like people in the old Soviet Union read Pravda, knowing it's biased and filtering for bias as I read.
Bottom line is a definite minority of Big Three or even CNN watchers are committed liberal voters, where in contrast all but a tiny minority of Rush listeners are "broken glass Republicans."
The Dims are right to be worried. If they can't get people to vote for them with their present advantages, how will they do it as more media outlets follow the lead of Fox News to grow their audiences???
Krauthammer snickered: suddenly one or two opposition forces arise -- Washington Times, Fox News, Weekly Standard -- and all of a sudden it’s a great conspiracy. This is absurd.”
Well said. They really do have Soviet Socialist tendencies, don't they?
Anybody who is curious enough about this question to do some reading should read Bias by Bernard Goldberg. He was a reporter for CBS News for 28 years, including two decades for CBS Evening News with Dan Rather. He blew the whistle on pervasive liberal bias in mainstream media and basically lost his job for it. Gore and the liberals are so delusional it's almost not funny. Almost.
You just had to SEE the sneer on Krauthammer's face when he said this. He almost burst out laughing. He could hardly contain himself. And later on, when Juan was agreeing with Gore, Krauthammer looked over at him with a look of utter disbelief on his face and said, "Juan, you have GOT to be kidding."
Imagine, whinning about THREE conservative news outlets, when they've had thousands for years.
For now, Mr. Gore can only attempt to explain what motivates the ceaseless lampooning he continues to face from America’s columnists and commentators. "That’s postmodernism," he offered. "It’s the combination of narcissism and nihilism that really defines postmodernism, and that’s another interview for another time, if you’re interested in it.
This is a great quote from Krauthammer. Many liberals are standing on the edge with Gore.
Did Juan get fired or something?
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