The Myth of the "Liberal Media"

[barnesfoto]

The myth of the "liberal media"

There may be no better example of the absurdity of the "liberal media" myth than the widespread notion that the Washington Post's opinion pages -- and Fred Hiatt, the man who runs them -- lean to the left.

The Daily Beast and Forbes magazine have both named Hiatt one of America's five most influential liberal journalists -- though the Daily Beast acknowledged that many liberals would question that assessment given Hiatt's "near-neocon" views on foreign policy, while asserting "there is no doubt at all that he is a traditional liberal in all matters domestic."

The assertion that a neocon -- near or otherwise -- is the nation's fifth most influential liberal is self-evidently absurd. But that bizarre assessment isn't limited to Tunku Varadarajan, the Scaife-funded Hoover Institution fellow who compiled both lists. NewsBusters' Warner Todd Huston has called Hiatt a "socialist" -- a kinder assessment than that of his colleague, Matthew Sheffield, who thinks the Post's editorial page is merely "liberal." Fellow NewsBuster Noel Sheppard expresses surprise when the Post publishes an op-ed that is "counter to leftwing economic dogma." Tim Russert described the Post in 2006 as "hardly an organ for Republican views."

Even the Post's own media critic, Howard Kurtz, says that the paper's editorial page is "left-leaning" and that "liberals are pretty well represented on the Post op-ed page" by, among others, Richard Cohen. For his part, Hiatt has insisted that the Post has "a pretty good balance on the oped page."

So, the idea that the Post's opinion operation is liberal is pretty well-entrenched, if not unanimously held. But is it true?

Let's start with the Iraq war -- that's kind of a big thing, being a war and all. A few years ago, I took a look at the reaction in the Post's opinion pages to Colin Powell's deeply flawed presentation to the United Nations:


http://mediamatters.org/columns/2010...4&rid=43000207

[oldredfordette]

Let the right wing talking points commence, Barnes.

[Jimaz]

This subject is covered very well by Noam Chomsky although you rarely hear his name mentioned in the traditional media despite his riveting style of thought and delivery. That alone should sufficiently discredit the myth that the media is liberally biased.

I'd especially recommend reading Manufacturing Consent, The Political Economy of The Mass Media, by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky. It may be a bit dated but it is thoroughly researched.

[gibran]

there is a strong disconnect between our "liberal" press and middle-eastern issues, we have many liberals who when it comes to things middle-east forget the social justice began with recognizing disparities in the treatment of others [[Dershowitz)...or as Amos Oz stated " we are both refugees" and justice will come when the truth is not blind ...
..
.many fly under the liberal label but in practicing justice there are few brave journalists that actually practice it ...{look how NPR has evolved and the funding / sponsors}....I always found it funny that Chomsky was labeled so vile by many when he just wants to bring to light inconsistencies in government say and governemnt do...he is labeled a communist by those who never read his books on how he despised communists...but medai always ignores his voice ...why?

[Papasito]

was there ever a day when news was news and politics were politics and the news wasnt actually slanted ?

[barnesfoto]

The endless trollposts about the alleged "liberal" media remind me of the Coleman Young years, when the News or Freep would write critical articles about the inept CAY Admin, and the Colemanites would spew cliches about how the "racist media" was out to tarnish the mayor, because, you know, they just couldn't stand how well the city was being run by a powerful black man.

All things can be related to Detroit, using prime numbers.


glowing cover piece on Scott Brown from the NYT Magazine:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/ma...l?ref=magazine

[humanmachinery]

You want a perfect portrait of what's wrong with the ethical priorities of the journalism biz as it relates to politics? Apparently Congress had a debate about Afghanistan yesterday, and hardly anyone from the press showed up to cover it. Kennedy got right pissed about this, and let folks know.

Besides his obvious partisan affiliation and possible loyalty to Massa [[who is a definite slimeball), I've got to say he's right. It stinks that the American public [[and its media) are so obsessed with sex that we lose all sense of perspective when a scandal involving it comes up.

---------------------


A must-see moment on the House floor today from Rep. Patrick Kennedy [[D-RI). He yelled -- literally -- that the press corp is "despicable" and had failed in covering debate of the Afghanistan war.

Cynicism is that there's one, two press people in this gallery. We're talking about Eric Massa 24/7 on the TV! We're talking about war and peace, $3 billion, 1,000 lives and no press! No press!

"It's despicable!" Kennedy yelled.


http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo....php?ref=fpblg



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKC3AiQkmuY

[humanmachinery]

The Washington Post is only left-leaning when compared to Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Washington Times. THAT is a truly partisan paper, if ever one existed.

The WaPo has drifted further and further right since the 1970s, and Hiatt's tenure there is clear evidence of this. He's accumulated a staff that includes George Will, Charles Krauthammer, Bill Kristol, and former George W. Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen. Thiessen's most recent column used the pages of the Washington Post to call DOJ officials who'd defended terrorist suspects in the past as "Al Qaeda lawyers." I'll note that many of these people were former members of the United States Military as well.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...030801742.html


And as much as the death of the news business is a disaster for American democracy, the vulgar constitution of the Washington Post's editorial board [[where opposing things like torture, warrantless wiretapping, and pre-emptive war got Dan Froomkin fired) makes me cheer for this news: http://wonkette.com/414107/414107

[Diehard]

Let the right wing talking points commence, Barnes.

It's pleasing to see that, as of [[OMG what am I still doing up?) 4 a.m., most of the people responding to this thread have something to offer other than regurgitated talking points. Hurray!

I started a thread a few weeks ago about "the media," and stand by the theory that hollering "the media is biased" is a lazy, ignorant copout by lazy, ignorant people.
To translate...
Joe Blow: "The media is biased!!" Translation: "Why doesn't everyone think the same way I do, support the same causes and candidates as me, pay attention to everything I think is important, and ignore everything else?"
Public figure: "The media is out to get me!!" Translation: "I refuse to discuss something I did or said that, in retrospect, might have been a bad idea."

[oldredfordette]

I'm happy to see that too, Diehard.

And of course the Washington press corps is despicable, you can count on them doing whatever they have to do to to keep their proximity to whoever is in power. They sucked on W's shriveled little worm and they are on their knees for Obama.

The press, in general, is a mess but it's not a liberal mess.

[barnesfoto]

http://mediamatters.org/action/wapot...rce=uthiessena

[Jimaz]

From The Nation: Watching the Media Watchdogs

The "Media Fix" blog will be launched in April. Until then, you can follow the blog's new Twitter feed, @MediaFixBlog. It offers a snapshot of where we're heading. I hope you take a look today.

[sarge]

Meet CNN's Newest Contributor: The Guy Who Called Souter A Goat-F*cker

Oh Noes! More Liberal Bias!

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo...ontributor.php

[East Detroit]

WGAF?

All I see are a bunch of partisan Neros fiddling away.

Offer solutions and alternative solutions to today's issues.
Stop telling us how stupid the other partisans are.

[sarge]

Lighten up -- hate the thread, not the poster...

[cinthb]

Let all the U.S. citizenry have liberty, and tell legals/illegals to leave if any of it offends them. This is our rock.

Do something together, or don't bother.

[gibran]

you want you liberal media I got your liberal media...LOL [[just kidding ...couldn't resist)....


http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1158133.html#resp