Right-Wing Myths Exposed: The So-Called "Liberal" Media

[Echo In Light]

"I admit it -- the liberal media were never that powerful, and the whole thing was often used as an excuse by conservatives for conservative failures."
William Kristol, as reported by the New Yorker, 5/22/95
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Myth: The U.S. has a liberal media.

Fact: The media are being increasingly monopolized by parent corporations with pro-corporate or conservative agendas.
http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-liberalmedia.htm
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As I browse the various topics discussed here, one aspect occasionally screams up from the page: it's painfully obvious that some still don't understand many core issues. This begs the question, why are so many Dems more or less on the same page as rightists?

How does one come to this conclusion? Language. Language always gives people away. And it's very easy to spot those who, even though they may be card carrying Dems who strongly oppose the right-wing movement, continually allow that movements vested interests to shape their views and strongly impact their perceptions of numerous issues. The control of information, "winning hearts and minds," is one of the most crucial aspects of thought control within an open (although now closing) society. I've presented some basic info of how the mainline media works, who OWNS it, and therefore determines its slant, which stories get coverage, which don't, which are immediately sent down the memory hole, and so forth. As Chomsky says, "Propaganda is to democracy what violence is to totalitarianism."
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The Myth of The Liberal Media
"Beyond the 2000 Election, this conservative media tilt has become a dominant reality in modern U.S. politics. The imbalance also was not an accident. It resulted from a conscious, expensive and well-conceived plan by conservatives to build what amounts to a rapid-response media machine. This machine closely coordinates with Republican leaders and can strongly influence - if not dictate - what is considered news."
~ The Media Is the Mess (July 17, 2001 article

Plenty of links at this site:
http://www.webpan.com/dsinclair/myths.html

Also:
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2447

The notion of a “liberal” national news media is one of the most enduring and influential political myths of modern U.S. history. Shaping the behavior of both conservatives and liberals over the past quarter century, the myth could be said to have altered the course of American democracy and led the nation into the dangerous corner it now finds itself.
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2002/123102a.html

Lots of sources here, including Eric Alterman's book "What Liberal Media?"
http://makethemaccountable.com/myth/LiberalMedia.htm

The Myth of Liberal Media Bias

"Bias" isn't supported-- because it's not true
January 20, 2002

"Here's a reality check for Bernard Goldberg: The mainstream media are no more liberal than the conglomerates that own them or the advertisers that pay their bills."
http://www.fair.org/articles/bias-op-ed.html

http://www.buzzflash.com/perspectives/2002/Media_Bias.html

The Myth of the Liberal Media: The Propaganda Model of News/Noam Chomsky/Edward Herman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYlyb1Bx9Ic

Mark Crispn Miller, Professor of Media Ecology and Director of the Project on Media Ownership (PrOMO) at New York University:
http://www.mediaed.org/btf/Miller/index_html

Doc film, Orwell Rolls In His Grave:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1925114769515892401&q=orwell+rolls+in+his+grave&total=42&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

Manufacturing Consent - Noam Chomsky and the Media
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5631882395226827730&q=chomsky+manufacturing+consent&total=65&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

[unpossibles]

1. thanks. This is one of the most important things we need to do

the media takeover by the rightwing, and their damning of their competition by accusing everyone who is not propagandists of being "Liberal" is what allowed not only the elections to be cooked, but has watered down every other important topic, and has dumbed down America. Garbage in: garbage out. We need to encourage people of all parties to seek out information, to not inherently trust what they tell us on the corporate news, and to make use of the internet for what it can do.

[Ian_rd]

2. "Liberal media" is perhaps the most successful Republican campaign of all time

They've been screaming it for decades until it was finally ramrodded into the American mind. And it has produced brilliant results. The public receives negative reports on Republicans with skepticism, but accepts positive reports on them without question. And it makes news organizations scared to report in a way that might attract the "liberal media" cry, so they treat Republicans with kid gloves and invent shit about Democrats. And something like "liberal media" is so subjective that it cannot be proven or disproved in any universally accepted way. Even when pointing out that media monopolies are owned by Republicans (Viacom's opinion on Republicans most recently), it does not completely debunk the "liberal" claim as Rush, Sean, and Michael convince their listeners that people like Rosie O'Donnell control the media.

Hell, I just heard Glenn Beck brag about how he, Rush, and other Republican radio guys reach immensely more Americans than the NYT, LAT, and other liberal outlets, but of course leaving out the logical conclusion that they are more influential. For the Right, the "liberal media" claim will always exist from now on. Always. Even when all TV news resembles Fox, they'll be decrying "liberal media" because its purpose is not to demand balance in journalism, but rather to push the nation further and further to the right.

[Echo In Light]

7. The most hideous aspect is how it frames "reality" for all...

While there aren't large segments of our populace which, with an informed, comprehensive understanding of the right-wing movement, support its positions and, ahem, "values," this level of media manipulation has far reaching effects well beyond its core base. It's a form of social engineering that works by being the loudest, most familiar sounding 'voice' of the nation - in keeping with the 'voice' of the culture's favored pastimes - which works wonders among those who are either too depoliticized, too apathetic, or too brainwashed to exert the time required to have a better, more factual understanding of matters they would otherwise be able to perceive quite easily.

"The term bi-partisan means a larger than usual deception is being carried out against the populace." ~ George Carlin

[DeepModem Mom]

3. K&R

[BornagainDUer]

4. I still here shitheads today arguing that it is a liberal media.

[mogster]

5. You have 'liberal media', we have 'socialist media'

Link to previous post.

Blaming the media for too much liberalism would never work here, so they use socialist media instead (in a way that implicates socialism as trying to strangle liberalism).

What's the chances for the same type of rethoric happening on two different continents, with two different types of media accusations, but with the same goal: more conservative media?

[Uncle Joe]

6. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Echo In Light.