Liberal Media Bias Too Obvious to (Rationally) Ignore
By Bob Ellis on January 20th, 2010
MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski has admitted what most journalists will insist is not true and does not exist: liberal media bias.
From Media Bistro:
“I’ve worked in the mainstream media for all the networks and I will say what people aren’t saying. It’s got a liberal world view. There are great people working at the networks, and they’re mostly democrats, ok?”
She then goes on to blow this precious moment of candor by claiming these liberal members of the “mainstream” media do a great job of being objective (excuse the 5-minute pause as I laughed uncontrollably on the floor).
She says journalists ought to tell who they voted for, etc., in order to create some sense of transparency to deal with media bias.
I don’t think that’s necessary. There are a handful of “mainstream” media reporters out there who do a good job of maintaining objectivity. Candy Crowley comes to mind. And with a few notable exceptions, local Rapid City Journalists do a good job of fairness and objectivity.
These reporters don’t ignore the negative information about Democrats and they don’t pile on to negative information about Republicans. They don’t display a visible thrill running up their leg anytime they talk about a liberal or a liberal policy, and they don’t sneer and smirk anytime they talk about a conservative or a conservative policy.
Perhaps Mika has at least some point. If journalists are going to strive to be objective (and allow themselves to succeed), there is no need for full disclosure of their political leanings. But if they’re not going to be objective, fair and balanced, then have the guts to come right out in the open and make it clear that, hey, I’m not objective.
Either way, the American people (most of them, anyway) aren’t stupid. And it’s no wonder a recentRasmussen poll found that most Americans realize how liberal the “mainstream” media is:
A new survey from Scott Rasmussen finds that more than half of all voters (51%) believe “the average reporter is more liberal than they are,” and two-thirds (67%) think the media have “too much power and influence over government decisions.”
The only wonder is that this number isn’t much higher; most polls I’ve seen in the last 10 years are up in the 60-70% range.
But the poll results are closer to dead-on with the realization that the “mainstream” media has too much power and influence over government decisions. If these “objective” liberals in the media don’t like something, they do their best to create a firestorm against it…and if they can’t create one, they do their best to make public officials think there’s one.
That kind of bilge has to stop. A bunch of liberal elitists calling themselves “journalists” shouldn’t get to cut to the head of the line and trump the will (and the freedoms) of the American people.
Note: Reader comments are reviewed before publishing, and only salient comments that add to the topic will be published. Profanity is absolutely not allowed and will be summarily deleted. Spam, copied statements and other material not comprised of the reader’s own opinion will also be deleted.
Categories: Commentary
Tags: liberalism, media bias
