For example, I view CBS, ABC, CNN, and NBC as corporate -- essentially jellyfish, they blow hot & cold these days. I think ABC does the best job of the three. And none of them touch outlets like the CBC & the BBC.
If by "liberally biased," you mean "not as psychotically right wing as FOX," then I agree |
Liberally biased in terms of which stories they choose to report (and not report). Which pundits they will have on.
FOX is certainly right wing. No doubt about it. But it's no more right wing than say CNN is left-wing.
I made it my living last year to watch all these shows very carefully and at length as part of my research for The Political Machine. Fox News IS rightwing. But MSNBC and CNN are quite left wing. Countdown (MSNBC), for instance, is far more left wing than O'Reilly is right wing.
And the Beltway Boys, hosted by a right wing Republican and a conservative Democrat certainly tilts right. On the other hand, CNN's Capital Gang is blatantly left wing.
But bias is a subtle thing. Fox News calls suicide bombers "terrorists". CBS calls them "Militants". Fox News calls pro-lifers "abortion opponents". CNN calls them "Anti-Choice activists".
Fox News with Brit Hume has a 2 minute segment entitled "The Grapevine" that is basically right wing slamming of left wing people. CBS, by contrast, runs episode upon episode of left wing claptrap in the form of 60 Minutes ("Yes, we get it corporations are EEEEEVILLL and all our problems can only be solved if we just get the benevolent government to solve it..")
CBS can't get enough of exposing some company ripping off the innocents. But ABC's John Stossel gets tarred and feathered by liberals when he does show on government waste and corruption.
John Stossel on ABC is a pretty lonely conservative though. ABC's Sunday morning show is hosted by George Stephanopolous, Clinton's former Press Secretary. He is objective in his manner but the topics that get covered and how they are covered is decidely liberal. But hey, they have George Will, arch-conservative on there so that's okay right?
Then there's NPR which is so left wing that there's really nothing salvageable there. Another morning of Diane Rheim asking her guest tough questions like "Do you think Bush is anti-environment or just doesn't understand the effects of his policies?" and other such objective coverage. Of course, Fresh Air with Terry Gross treats any claim by a liberal attack book as "truth" and any claim by a conservative attack book with extreme skepticism.
Bias is hard to prove in any sort of objective sense. But there are some ways that make it hard to deny there's a liberal bias. For instance, various groups have simply kept track of how often the political bias of a given guest is reported.
For instance, in the rare events that someone from the NRA is on, they will make it clear that they're from the NRA, a conservative group. By contrast, someone from an anti-gun group is rarely identified as being part of an anti-gun group. Liberal groups are far less likely to be identified as such. That is where bias comes in - many, if not most, journalists believe that th eliberal point of view IS the center and therefore those who have their liberal views need not be identified because those groups are objective.
That's why you end up with things like what Dabe posted where she starts rattling off reports from FAIR as if it's an objective, non-partisan group. That's what bias does and how it shows up on TV, newspapers, etc. A left wing person will represent a left wing group's info without disclosing their ideology. So if you want to see bias in action, look no further than Dabe's use of a left-wing source without any sort of mention that they are a left leaning group. That's bias.
BTW, media owners don't sit there and micro manage what's on the air. They are more concerned about the bottom line. Liberal bias in the media isn't some conspiracy. It's not malicious. It's not even intentional. It's a natural side-effect of the people who write editorials, the producers who decide what stories to cover, having a certain world view. It's well documented, it's well known in media circles. And the good media outlets fight against it. But when you think your world view is centrist, it ends up scuing thigns. You end up quoting left wing "media research" outlets without mentioning that they're a left leaning group because to you, it seems perfectly balanced and reasonable.
