Is there Media Bias?

Politico just came out with a great new article on Media Bias regarding coverage of the McCain campaign vs. the Obama campaign. It reminded me of an argument I had with a conservative on The Progressive Movement a few weeks ago. I will now take parts of that discussion and elaborate on it.

The meat of the Politico article is this:

OK, let’s just get this over with: Yes, in the closing weeks of this election, John McCain and Sarah Palin are getting hosed in the press, and at Politico.

And, yes, based on a combined 35 years in the news business we’d take an educated guess — nothing so scientific as a Pew study — that Obama will win the votes of probably 80 percent or more of journalists covering the 2008 election. Most political journalists we know are centrists — instinctively skeptical of ideological zealotry — but with at least a mild liberal tilt to their thinking, particularly on social issues.
So what?

Before answering the question, indulge us in noting that the subject of ideological bias in the news media is a drag. The people who care about it typically come at the issue with scalding biases of their own. Any statement journalists make on the subject can and will be used against them. So the incentive is to make bland and guarded statements. Even honest ones, meanwhile, will tend to strike partisans as evasive or self-delusional.

Here goes anyway.

There have been moments in the general election when the one-sidedness of our site — when nearly every story was some variation on how poorly McCain was doing or how well Barack Obama was faring — has made us cringe.

And my favorite part of the article:

As it happens, McCain’s campaign is going quite poorly and Obama’s is going well. Imposing artificial balance on this reality would be a bias of its own.

I'm sure the Conservative nutjobs will be screaming media bias about the above even while Politico screams it themselves. Take a look at the list below and then at my 'out of the box' ideology behind it.

TV's Talking Heads:

First let's break down the major TV news outlets in America and let's see how biased they are.

FOXNews: Biased Conservative
MSNBC: Biased Progressive
CNN: Equally partisan (despite what FoxNews watchers say)
NBC: Non Partisan - Brian Williams has zero outspoken bias.
ABC: Biased Conservative
CBS: Biased Progressive
FOX: Biased conservative

The Written Word:

The major newspaper outlets.

The New York Times: Biased Progressive
The New York Post: Biased Conservative
The Washington Times: Biased Conservative
The Washington Post: Biased Progressive
The Chicago Tribune: Biased Conservative
The Wall Street Journal: Biased Conservative
The L.A. Times: Biased Progressive
Houston Chronicle: Biased Conservative
The Boston Herald: Biased Progressive

and let's not leave out the magazine world:

Newsweek: Biased Progressive
Rolling Stone: Biased Progressive
The Weekly Standard: Biased Conservative
The American Conservative: Biased DUH.
The National Review: Biased Conservative
The Nation: Biased Progressive
Time: Biased Progressive

Now based on this list, I'm thinking the media bias isn't quite as bad as Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity make it out to be. They always claim "media bias" when a story doesn't fit their conservative agenda. They have done this SO well in the past that they've actually caused media outlets to not report the truth and their analysis for fear of being "biased."

Thankfully news organizations are waking up. They now list things as Opinion and don't claim that news has a bias. They report it, then comment on it. There is ZERO lack of reporting going on with very few exceptions where, for example, the Bush Administration does not allow Press access or the obvious lack of access to Sarah Palin.

Conservatives, I know you'll likely argue about CNN (as you call it, the Clinton News Network) being progressively biased but every panel they've had for every debate has had equal democrats and republicans. Just because the little meters they show have Obama winning and Biden winning in the debates doesn't mean they are biased. It means they are HONEST.

Me? Yes, there is a "liberal media bias:"

All that being said, I think the liberal media bias does exist. However, quite simply, it exists because those that are closest to the powers that be (journalists) see BS just like us average "Joe Sixpack" folks do.

You ever reach outside of the box to think that maybe the media is liberally biased is because liberal ideas are the ideas of change? The ideas of tolerance and the lack of bigotry allowed in our society? Maybe they are biased because more and more journalists are waking up.

Maybe journalists see the truth that is the neo-conservative movement. They are fighting back against an idea that all humans are NOT created equal. They are fighting back against the idea that running a smear campaign against a very respectable man (Barack Obama) is the only way to win. They are fighting back against the idea that to enable stupidity by putting an "Aww shucks" and "You betcha" hockey mom into national office with no vetting is the way to "recharge a campaign." And maybe, just maybe, they are fighting back against the corporate greed, corporate welfare, ethical nightmares and downright fraudulent activity.

When people say "the media is biased" they never stop to think that maybe its that way for a reason. Maybe enough journalists have seen enough bullsh*t and can't continue reporting objectively without selling their souls. Maybe having a media bias isn't a bad thing. The conservatives have their lie machine called Fox News. I'll stick with a "media bias" more than I will a station full of lies and outright false claims guised in "fair and balanced" journalism.

One day people will wake up and realize that "media bias" is there for a reason. If you have confidence in the average American...then have confidence in the media, as well. If good, honest journalism leans progressive...I still stand behind the reasoning 'outside the box' that I have listed.

Here is a great video from Politico.com from the media bias article.

al-Qaeda endorses John McCain

In a true reversal of fortunes it appears that the Republican smear machine won't be using al-Qaeda against Barack Obama like was done to John Kerry in 2004.

2004:

In 2004, John Kerry was bashed by Fox News that Osama bin Laden had endorsed him. They derived this ridiculous attack from a video he released just days before the election. Dick Morris, a Faux News contributor, said "I think that Al Qaeda is voting with its silence for John Kerry." Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) said terrorists "are going to throw everything they can between now and the election to try and elect Kerry."

This is the purest example of Fox News' (and other Conservative media outlets) attempts to brainwash America. They repeatedly make accusations through innuendo and I find it disgusting. I used to be a Fox News junkie. I watched it for hours upon hours during the run up to the 2004 election and the 2006 election. It finally reached a tipping point and I could no longer bare the sadness and disappointment in the "Fair and Balanced" news source.

2006:

We all know that the Bush administration isn't concerned with al-Qaeda. However, I still am and would love to know that there was a team totally dedicated to finding him. It just seems crazy that Bush would say he isn't concerned with him anymore. Osama bin Laden obviously is the reason 9/11 happened. Why would Bush shut down the team trying to find him? This was barely reported on Fox News, as I was still a junkie. I began having to go to other news sources to find factual information. The attacks on the democratic party were monumental. Thankfully, they all came to realize they were going to lose. It's why the election night coverage was so boring. What we've learned is that when Fox News knows its team has lost, they are silent. It was around this time I began watching MSNBC and CNN more.

2008:

Now it appears that John McCain has been endorsed by al-Qaeda supporters. Where is Faux News bashing McCain for the endorsement? Where are the "Fair and Balanced" smears that were put on John Kerry in 2004 that should now be towards McCain in 2008? There is no backlash at all from Fox. Does anyone find this strange? I doubt it. I can't believe they haven't been sued for false advertisement for their slogan, "Fair and Balanced" after watching their Tim Russert and Colin Powell coverage.

Now election time is near and Fox News has continued to grow their conservative base. Gone is the balance and objective reporting they had years ago. I believe they've lost many supporters who enjoyed another viewpoint on the news. However, they have replaced those people with more and more conservative nutjobs who will believe anything they say.

Fox News is like a horrific car crash, you can't help but watch from afar, even though you know it's wrong.

Memory of Tim Russert disrespected by Fox News

Tim Russert:

Timothy John Russert, Jr. (May 7, 1950 – June 13, 2008) - Journalist, Patriot, Hero:

Tim Russert was an American journalist who hosted NBC's Meet the Press. He was NBC News' Washington Bureau Chief and hosted a weekly interview program on MSNBC. He was a frequent correspondent and guest on NBC's The Today Show and Hardball. He co-hosted the network's presidential Election Night coverage and presented the polling results of the NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey on the NBC Nightly News. Russert collapsed and died at his office in Washington on June 13, 2008. -Wikipedia

Tim will be missed by not only the journalists and politicians in Washington, but also us bloggers and all people who cared about current events. He affected each and every one of us, Democrat or Republican. His uncanny ability to be "fair and balanced" held the standard by which every journalist should follow. Tim was incredibly articulate in a way that even the most uneducated and ignorant could understand his interviews. I am truly blessed to have had the opportunity to watch his show, see his analysis on television and read his articles from the multiple outlets of coverage that he would provide. He was a wonderful father, a wonderful journalist and a wonderful patriot.

Reading the extremely intelligent articles that Tim has written over the years is one of the reasons I started this blog. Seeing the impact that he had on the people around me, my country and even the world through his writing helped inspire me to become the dedicated and political savvy person I feel I am. His stress on education, rights to free speech and the importance of family, in time, may seem like just a blip in the history of Mankind...but I hope will have a lasting impact by creating a standard by which all of us can and should live by.

While sitting at home switching between the networks fighting back the tears of despair that filled my heart I came across an incredibly disrespectful situation that I feel must be made public. I hope that in posting this I can open some blind eyes to the disrespectful nature of the station that was once known as "Fox News."

Faux News:

I say "once known as" because I used to switch between CNN, CSPAN, Fox News & MSNBC as a budding political junkie. After switching between all of them I began noticing a clear bias that stemmed from Fox News towards the conservative republican side of the fence. It was clear that not only would they have more Republicans on their programs, but they would allow them to go entirely too far in the things that they say:



That is one example of the tasteless filth that Faux News actually considered "Fair and Balanced" reporting. Not only have there been MANY examples in the past...



...but the complete lack of contempt for anything that is said on their precious network is appalling and should be reprimanded.

Faux News Disrespects Tim Russert:

As I stated earlier, I was flipping through the major news channels catching up on the news of the death of Tim Russert. I held steady on CNN for a bit until they went to commercial and then I switched to MSNBC. I did this with plans of switching between the networks at every commercial so that I could, in essence, have commercial free coverage of this historic event. Commercials never came on MSNBC. I watched for a long while with great coverage including Tom Brokaw, Barbara Walters and Pat Buchanan. I began noticing the backgrounds of Tim Russert's past shows, interviews and hand shakes included politicians from all different persuasions. I remember thinking to myself "Wow, this guy knew and got along with everyone!"

It was then I remembered I wasn't switching through the networks anymore. So I switched to Faux News. Commercial. I flipped to CNN for a bit and then back to Faux News. Commercial. I switched over to MSNBC for a few minutes and again switched back to Faux News. COMMERCIAL. "What???," I said out loud. I thought, "Fine, I will wait until it comes back on." I began doing some house chores. SEVEN commercials later and we were back to the news with good ole ex-CNN morning show host, Bill Hemmer. I heard laughing. LAUGHING? Surely not...so I begin to pay attention. Sure enough, Bill Hemmer is on the phone with former Governor George Pataki (R-NY) and they are laughing? From what I could gather they were referencing a humorous moment in the intersected life of Pataki and Russert.

I held fast...determined to find some good information from what I consider a naughty and nastily biased news network. I didn't. What I DID find was so incredibly biased and disrespectful towards such an UNbiased and widely respected journalist that I got up and headed straight here to make this post.

Faux Backdrops Heard Round the World:

A great man has died. His body still being examined. His family still in shock. The country still in shock. Yet Faux News...being the "Fair and Balanced" network that they are...has decided to run the most biased side show I have ever seen.

While watching the coverage of Tim Russert's death on Faux News, I noticed Republican after Republican were interviewed, questioned and asked for their experience on Tim Russert. Almost all of them spoke of how objective and unbiased he was. While these Republicans were speaking (most with the utmost respect), Faux News was putting their own backgrounds on the screen. These backgrounds consisted of the following:

Tim Russert with George W. Bush.
Tim Russert with John McCain.
Tim Russert with George H.W. Bush.
Tim Russert with Rudy Giuliani.
Tim Russert with John McCain.
Tim Russert with Bill O'Reilly.
Tim Russert with Fmr. Gov. Pataki.
Tim Russert with John McCain.
Tim Russert with George W. Bush
Tim Russert with John Stack (Faux News Vice President)
Tim Russert with Dick Cheney
Tim Russert with John McCain.
Tim Russert with Chris Wallace.

Shocked and for lack of a better phrase, "surprisingly surprised," I turned it back to MSNBC. It almost seemed like the producers were using this opportunity (the death of a well respected journalist known for his nonpartisan reporting) to stump for John McCain!

I just couldn't believe it.

A man who lived the greater part of his life being objective and unbiased. A man who lived the last years of his life playing hardball with politicians, from Bill Clinton to John McCain to Barack Obama to George W. Bush. A man who prided himself in doing his job SO WELL that even the closest of his friends had no idea what his political persuasion was.

A man who had just died suddenly...portrayed, through backdrops, the exact opposite of the type of man he was and wanted other journalists and news networks to be.

Shameful, disgraceful...TYPICAL of Faux News.

Mr. Tim Russert, wherever you may be, I wish you eternal happiness and my thoughts are with your family to get them through what will be a very rough time. I want to thank you for all that you have done for journalism, cable news & the hearts and minds of all whose lives you touched with your loving and sincere demeaner. You have made Meet the Press a legend. Your political analysis and objective opinions will be with us forever and always.

Dan