One of the “Big Lies” of the last 50 years is the conservative mantra of “liberal media bias.”
For every utterance of “liberal media bias,” there should be a counter of “conservative media management.”
Think about this. What was the most high-profile story or film made about the news media organization burying a story? It is “The Insider,” the story about tobacco executive-cum whistleblower Jeffery Wigand.
The film features a dramatic story behind the scenes at CBS and “60 Minutes,” a program that has been media enemy number one by conservatives for years for their style of “advocacy journalism” that takes on countless irresponsible corporations. The “Insider” shows what happens in news organizations. Reporters and producers are trying to break stories and the corporate management buries a story, in this case about a big tobacco company. Of course Republicans get tens of millions in Big Tobacco campaign contributions and most high-profile Republicans opposed the lawsuit joined by over 40 states against Big Tobacco. Wigand's whistle blowing precipitated this lawsuit.
Where was the liberal media bias when Republican President George H. W. Bush launched the Gulf War in 1991? One of biggest cheerleaders and profiteers on this war was CNN, the network most reviled by conservatives.
Where was the liberal media bias when Republican President George W. Bush launched the war in Iraq in 2003? The biggest cheerleaders were the major networks and news channels that offered extensive and all positive coverage of the early days of the war effort. This programming was produced with such melodrama that it might as well of have been a mini-series for Bush's re-election.
Why didn't all the liberals in the media force the Bush Administration make an airtight case for their false assertions and lies about Weapons of Mass Destruction? Why didn't the news media question Bush's 2003 State of the Union bombshell that, “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”
The media did a pathetic job of holding Bush accountable for the “Big Lie” of his administration: connecting Saddam Hussein to the September 11th attack. A USA Today poll showed that 69 percent of Americans believed Saddam was linked to the September 11th attacks. Even most Republicans leaders and most of Fox News' spin team don't try to make that nonexistent connection any more.
Why do the Republicans feel so persecuted? Part of the answer lies within what the Republican Party has morphed into. It is now the Party of the Small Tent, litmus tests and a “if you're not with us 100 percent of the time, you are against us” mentality. If you don't fit into an ideological box you will be ostracized, forced to change your beliefs or kicked out.
The media bias red herring has its dirty little secret: it allows the GOP to play both sides of the fence and to pre-empt the objective observations. In the hours leading up to the first 2004 Presidential debate, the GOP's Prince of Darkness Rush Limbaugh, was telling his listeners that Bush would probably come out as the “loser” because of the liberal media bias. So if Bush is portrayed negatively, the fix is in. If Bush gets positive coverage, it's because the American people are too smart to be fooled by the liberal media. Like many things with the right-wing, it's well-executed and not grounded in reality.
Listening to conservative mouthpieces you get the main message: Democrats and liberals get a free ride with the media. Have they heard of Bill Clinton? As one of the Democrats best Presidential candidate of the century, Governor Clinton was pursued and pummeled by the mainstream media like no other candidate before or since. But of course it was the liberal media that saved him, not the fact he was a preternatural campaigner or that his message was exactly what America was craving.
After everything Clinton endured, you could joke what else could Clinton be accused of? Murder? Jerry Falwell accused Clinton of multiple-murders in Falwell's libelous film “Clinton Chronicles” that makes “Fahrenheit 9/11” look like an even-handed National Geographic special.
So how could a media so biased for Clinton attack Clinton so much? A common conservative response is that Clinton's scandals were too far beyond the pale to ignore, no matter how much the media wanted to aid and abet Bill Clinton.
To find real political advocacy, try talk radio or FOX news. These programs and personalities have every right to a point of view. What is unforgivable is the daily barrage of bald lies and the invention of pseudo facts used to forward their obvious agenda. Their fact checkers and researchers are surely recent college drop outs with fresh experience at plagiarizing term papers and finding phony citations in lieu of real research. All of us are biased, none of us have to be liars.
There's no denying the presence of some bias in the media. The New York Times lurches to the left, just as the Wall Street Journal rails from right. Both still manage to provide quality and balanced viewpoints. Almost every newspaper in America favors one political party over the other, if ever so slightly. Network affiliates offer different political color to their coverage. The astute viewer gets a sense for with whom they align with and watches, listens or reads accordingly.
Here is the “Big Truth” about media bias. There is bias: for the sensational. A story that will garner better ratings or readership helps sell advertising puts cash on the bottom line. The media and conservatives share a common credo articulated best by the character Gordon Gekko in the movie “Wall Street”: “Greed is good.”
CNN, often bashed as too liberal leaning, was quick to cash in wars while both Presidents Bush were in office. They have also benefited from media events like the Clinton-Lewinksi scandal and the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill face off. What these stories have in common is compelling content and strong leading players – all the ingredients of a good drama. Which is what media outlets need to increase their profits. Political scandals? Cha-ching. Riveting war coverage? Cha-ching. Cha-ching.
It's not about liberal or conservative media bias. It's about the ratings, stupid.
John Rowley is President of Fletcher Rowley Chao, Inc, a
media consulting firm that has won over 200
races in 30 states for Democratic candidates.
John can be reached at Rowley@FRCConsulting.biz.
