[CLUE-Talk] "Liberal" media?

[Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier]

On Thu, 2003-07-17 at 23:46, Timothy C. Klein wrote:
> I am sure there is some liberal bias in some news outlets.  Especially
> 20-30 years ago.  But it is waning.

Waning? Waning? It's bloody well gone, if it ever actually existed in
the first place. 

The whole "liberal bias" boogeyman comes from polls that show that a lot
of reporters tend to be Democrats/left-wingers rather than actual
analysis of news. This doesn't mean that those reporters or writers get
to choose their stories or don't have their reports/writing vetted by
conservative editors chosen to run the paper. 

> Any intelligent consumer of news needs to: 1) Try to focus on facts,
> which can often negate any effect of bias.  2) Use multiple news
> sources, from both sides. 

3) Turn off your television and get news from sources that focus on news
rather than entertainment. 

> That said, the American people can believe whatever they want, it does
> not make it true.  Part of the belief undoubtably is because those on
> the right have been yelling 'liberal-bias' for as long as I can
> remember.  But saying it does not make it so.  A majority of Americans
> believe we have found WMD in Iraq.

Actually, I think it was something like 30 percent that think we've
found WMD. Still a scary number, but not quite a majority. 

> I am not willing to say that there is a 'conservative-bias' in the news
> media, but I have seen enough evidence to think that the 'liberal-bias'
> meme is spotty at best.

I'm willing to say it. There are certainly some outlets with a liberal
bias, but the overal skew is definitely right-wing. 

> The most scary thing about the Media these days is not bias left or
> right, but coroporate bias.

And here we get to the crux of the issue -- which is what makes
something "liberal" and what makes something "conservative," anyway? 

In some ways the media is seen as "liberal" because it can skew to the
left on social issues like gay rights, abortion and a number of other
hot-button social issues. 

I see a corporate bias as being a conservative thing, although maybe
it's time to shift the discussion to the class/corporate issues that
people seem to be afraid to discuss. There's a definite class struggle
going on in this country, though damned if any of the media outside the
far-left fringe will talk about it. 

Zonker
-- 
Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier
jzb at dissociatedpress.net
Aim: zonkerjoe
http://www.dissociatedpress.net