When Republicans Scream Bloody ''Liberal'' Media Bias
A. Alexander, October 2nd, 2007
If you are like me, you had always assumed that the reason Republicans screamed bloody "Liberal" media bias, was because they believed that the media portrayed them in an unrealistic and unfair manner. If so, like me, you were wrong. It wasn't that the Republicans believed the media to be misrepresenting them; it was that the corporate-owned media used to portray them for exactly who they, as Republicans, really were.
If we've learned anything about Republicans in recent years, it is that they aren't at all the kind of people that they want the public to believe them to be. Republicans want the public to see them as being "good Christians" with high "morals and values," supporters of the "traditional family," tough-minded anti-gay champions of "freedom and liberty," and people who supposedly oppose affirmative action based upon a principle of "equality for all, special treatment for none." In reality, Republicans are greed-driven; Jack Abramoff corrupted; wife-cheating; mistress-choking; teenaged Congressional Page stalking; airport bathroom love-seeking; DC madam needing; diaper-wearing Louisiana call girl paying; crank-snorting-gay-prostitute-humping ingrates; and supporters of major presidential candidates who have all run from two minority-sponsored debates.
And the moment the corporate-owned media reports the facts ... Republicans scream bloody "Liberal" media bias!
Republican cries of "Liberal" media bias started in the 1970s, about the same time that Archie Bunker of "All in the Family" fame became a household name. Many of us assumed that Republicans saw themselves in Archie, which was true ... they did. The character of Archie was a racist, chauvinistic, homophobe, who always seemed to be on the verge of beating the snot out of his wife, Edith. Archie was never quite able to deal honestly with himself or the world around him ... he always filtered everything through his fears and prejudices. Most of us assumed then, that Republicans considered Archie to be an example of "Liberal" media bias, because they believed the character to be an inaccurate depiction of what Republicans were really about, which wasn't true at all.
Republicans were upset about Archie's character, because it was a dead-on portrayal of the average GOPer. The media's airing of the character Archie Bunker was, for Republicans, a bit too much like being spied upon. All the dirty little secrets -- the racism, the hatred, the fake piety, the homophobia -- were being placed before the public and the public didn't like what they saw. If Archie and other media programs were going to be offered for consumption, Republicans knew they would never win another election. They needed to act. So, as always, Republicans claimed that the accurate portrayal of their true nature was a lie and they screamed bloody "Liberal" media bias.
Then, of course, Republicans went about the business of constructing a wholly fictitious version of themselves -- the Republican as "good Christian," as "morals and values" centered, as supporters of the "traditional American family," as being champions of "equality for all, special treatment for none" but never racist -- and whenever the media strayed from the "official" Republican-endorsed version, they screamed bloody "Liberal" media bias.
So, you see, whenever Republicans are screaming bloody "Liberal" media bias ... it is because someone, somewhere is telling the truth about a Republican. Don't think it is true? One can see the Republican mindset being played out over the Iraq coverage. Whenever -- rare as it is -- the media tries to tell the truth about just how bad things have become in Iraq, Republicans scream bloody "Liberal" media bias. Never mind the reality that Iraq is a disaster going from bad to horrific ... the truth isn't the "official" Republican-endorsed version and is therefore, "biased."
The funny thing about today's Republican Party is that nobody is buying into their "official" versions of anything ... well, nobody that is but Republicans themselves. The difference between who Republicans want the public to believe them to be and who they truly are - is as wide as Larry Craig's stance in an airport bathroom stall. This is a paranoid Republican myth.
Reality check: the US media is a mix of liberal, centrist and conservative voices. Also, the US media is largely owned by 10 corporations who frequently push pro-conservative agendas to the American public. Evidence:
1. Even Republican Pat Buchanan confessed, "For heaven sakes, we kid about the liberal media, but every Republican on earth does that." Neo-conservative pundit Bill Kristol also said, "I admit it: the liberal media were never that powerful, and the whole thing was often used as an excuse by conservatives for conservative failures."
2. A 2005 study in the Quarterly Journal of Economics found that "coverage by public television and radio is conservative compared to the rest of the mainstream media." Why? Partly because only four major corporate networks control American TV news-- up to 75% of the audience share. The "Big 10" media conglomerates who control the bulk of the entire US media are: AOL Time Warner, Disney, General Electric, News Corporation, Viacom, Vivendi, Sony, Bertelsmann, AT&T and Liberty Media. Yes, we have National Public Radio, but compare its public reach to that of Canada's CBC and the United Kingdom's BBC.
3. Eighty percent of all US newspapers are owned by corporate chains.
4. Liberals are virtually non-existent on talk radio stations nationwide. Rush and Dr. Laura, eat your hearts out.
5. Conservatives are very well accomodated for across FOX News, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Times, the New York Post, the American Spectator, the Weekly Standard, the Drudge Report, the National Review, etc. Even so-called "bastions of liberalism," e.g. the NY Times, MSNBC, WashPost and NPR make a concerted effort to be "fair and balanced" by bringing in right-wing views like those of David Brooks, Joe Scarborough, Tucker Carlson, Charles Krauthammer and Cokie Roberts to have their say in these forums, respectively. This is in stark contrast to FOX News' claims to unbiased objectivity, which were easily demolished by Robert Greenwald in 2004.
6. Contrary to what some paranoid Republicans claim, most journalists are centrists, not liberals. A representative sample of 141 US journalists and bureau chiefs were asked in 1998, "On social issues, how would you characterize your political orientation?" Answers: Left 30%, Center 57%, Right 9%, Other 5% . Next question, same sample: "On economic issues, how would you characterize your political orientation? " Answers: Left 11%, Center 64%, Right 19%, Other 5%. Also, look at the total number of think tank citations in major newspapers, radio and TV transcripts: Conservative TTs: 7792, Centrist TTs: 6361, Liberal TTs: 1152.
7. Eric Alterman summarizes a 1999 research study from the academic journal Communications Research: "Four scholars examined the use of the 'liberal media' argument and discovered a fourfold increase in the number of Americans telling pollsters that they discerned a liberal bias in their news. But a review of the media's actual ideological content, collected and coded over a twelve-year period, offered no corroboration whatever for this view." No, it is just part of the fear/blame campaign of republicans. They use fear to blame everyone else for their failings. You'll notice that republicans always try to paint themselves as victims by blaming the media for something republicans in fact did. Actually they framed the debate until 2006 but now the Democrats have figured out how to do that and, since people tend to agree more with the Democrats, they are beginning to frame the debate in their own way. People across America are realizing they have been HAD and will vote Democratic in 2008. Seems pretty accurate to me. I think the Republicans always crying foul is an example of working the refs, hoping to get better treatment. The Republicans really have no right to complain. The media printed every single rumor about the Clintons, right on the front page, including the most ridiculous allegations (the retractions, if printed at all, were buried in the papers) and the media went along, without question or skepticism with the build up to the War in Iraq. If the media was truly overwhelmingly biased against Republicans, then Republicans would hardly ever win an election, it's as simple as that. Most media is conservative biased. If it weren't we would certainly here a lot more of the lies and the 'devil's' direction this government is taking.
republicans call all democrats traitors. They also scream "Liberal Bias" every time it is pointed out they are doing wrong.
Source -- Newspapers, News TV, Radio, Internet, People. If you mean liberal as meaning the truth - yes.
"If the Republicans will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them." - Adlai Stevenson Both the news papers and the main stream media are bias towards the Democrat Party. Why is it that when a Democrat does something wrong it will more than likely not report it. If a Republican does something wrong it is broad casted continually for weeks. |
