Why Isn't There A Liberal News Channel?

[Mr. Ected]

I mean, a REALLY liberal news channel? One that defines itself as such, and doesn't pander to the right at any time or in any manner? Why isn't there a FOX news equivalent for progressives?

I guess I'm sick and tired of hearing the right wing whackos beating up on the liberal media, and then turning on the TV, and hearing the so-called liberal media beating up on liberals too.

If they want to use the leftist media as a punching bag, couldn't we at least have a bona fide media source that lives up to the hype?

Now that's what I would call fair and balanced.

[AndyTiedye]

1. Because the Wingnuts Bought Them ALL

[county worker]

2. Free Speech TV on cable and satellite is liberal.

I watch it for a refreshing change from the regular cable satellite food fights.

on edit: They even have a hate mailbag of sorts. They read viewer letters on air and many are from freepers I'm sure. It is great fun to hear what they say.

[KamaAina]

3. On cable? Where?

Can we all move there? :shrug:

[county worker]

5. Free Speech TV: DISH Network ch. 9415 it is on cable also I think

http://www.freespeech.org/fscm2/genx.php?name=home

http://www.freespeech.org/schedule/

Available full time on DISH Network ch. 9415 and part-time on 189 community access cable stations in 38 states.

[NRaleighLiberal]

4. another thought - I think that in general liberals spend much less time staring at the box

than the republics. They spend more time interacting with the world, spending time more productively, etc.

at least I hope so!

[Mr. Ected]

6. Not All News Outlets Are A Waste of Time

Particularly when they are friendly to your point of view.

They may actually help illuminate issues and buttress the case for progressive policies...something that sorely lacks in today's one-dementia environment.

[JI7]

7. that type of stuff does not appeal to most liberals, same as talk radio

the internet is what is doing for liberals what talk radio/cable tv does for wingnuts.

[ThoughtCriminal]

8. We're not a good target for many advertisers

Critical thinkers who won't buy just anything you can cram into a 30-second sound bite?

[annabanana]

9. I would be pretty happy if we could get one that doesn't LIE!. . n/t

[rvablue]

10. Because Progressives/Liberals like facts and the truth and don't need to be

spoon fed partisan talking points.

I think most of us would settle for some more straight-up, old-fashioned reporting from CNN and MSNBC in lieu of partisan hacks debating talking points, Tweety's random bloviating and the rest of the regurgitated tripe we get day in and day out.

[Jkid]

11. That is a great question.

One, is that the media is owned by the wealthy and most of the wealthy vote for conservative party's (read: Republicans). Also, cable companies are owned by conservatives as well so it would be impossible to get a true liberal news station, unless you launch it as a 24/7 streaming media service.

Even though it will give the Rush "Baaaawwww Liberal Bias!" Limbaugh a real run for his money, because there would be a TV channel that has a real liberal bias!

[onenote]

17. I"m curious about the claim that conservatives own the cable companies

First, who exactly owns Time Warner Cable, or Comcast, or Cablevision -- three of the largest cable companies in the US? Each is publicly traded.

If you look at the boards of these companies,you may be surprised. Members of the Comcast board have contributed over 160K to Democratic candidates and campaign committees in the past two years. Sure,they've also given to repubs, but not in nearly those amounts. There are more Comcast board members that give exclusively to Democrats than that give exclusively to repubs.

Similarly, if you look at these companies pacs, you'll see that in the most recent election cycle, they gave more to Democrat than to repubs. Generally, that's a reflection of the fact that cable corporate pacs typically give to incumbents, so that when there were more repubs in congress, repubs got more pac money. Now that Democrats are in the majority, the cable company pacs are trying to oust them, they are backing them. One exception: Cablevision, the 5th largest cable company: its PAC gave 85 percent to Democrats in 2008.

Its easy to paint these companies with a broad brush, but the facts often suggest that the reality is not as simple.

[Fumesucker]

23. Democrat != Liberal..

Hell, even here on DU there are lots of attacks on "liberal purists"..

[merh]

12. Because we don't need to be told what to think

we can think for ourselves - the right seems to have issues with that and need talking heads telling them what is important and how to perceive it.

rather sad, don't you think

[Sheets of Easter]

13. a good news channel should have NO bias.

That is the problem with Fix News. It's not just that they lean so hard to the right, it's the fact that they lean in one direction on a regular basis. It's one thing if you have one or two programs on any given network that have a particular political leaning, it's another when the entire channel is devoted to toeing a common line.

[Laelth]

14. Good question. We need one, imho. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[trudyco]

15. Because big business pays for the ads and they don't want it -nt

[H2O Man]

16. LINK-TV

is the best thing out there. I strongly recommend it.

[pnorman]

18. NONSENSE! The mainstream media in this country are dominated by liberals.

I was informed of this fact by Rush Limbaugh. And
Thomas Sowell. And Ann Coulter. And Rich Lowry. And
Bill O'Reilly. And William Safire. And Robert Novak.
And William F. Buckley, Jr. And George Will.

And John Gibson. And Michelle Malkin. And David
Brooks. And Tony Snow. And Tony Blankely. And Fred
Barnes. And Britt Hume. And Larry Kudlow. And Sean
Hannity. And David Horowitz. And William Kristol. And
Hugh Hewitt.

And Oliver North. And Joe Scarborough. And Pat
Buchanan. And John McLaughlin. And Cal Thomas. And Joe
Klein. And James Kilpatrick. And Tucker Carlson. And
Deroy Murdock. And Michael Savage. And Charles
Krauthammer. And Stephen Moore. And Alan Keyes.

And Gary Bauer. And Mort Kondracke. And Andrew
Sullivan. And Nicholas von Hoffman. And Neil Cavuto.
And Matt Drudge. And Mike Rosen. And Dave Kopel. And
John Caldara.

The mainstream media in this country are dominated by
liberals. For instance, did you know there is an
ultra-leftist professor at the University of Colorado
named Ward Churchill who wrote an essay three years
ago in which he called victims of Sept. 11 "little
Eichmanns"? Bet you never heard of him, as the liberal
media elite likes to put the kibosh on embarrassing
stories like this.

The mainstream media in this country are dominated by
liberals. Look at how they all gave Bill Clinton a
pass on the whole Monica Lewsinsky affair. Remember?
It was never in the news. We never heard any of the
salacious details. The work of his presidency never
came to a virtual halt while he defended himself.

The mainstream media in this country are dominated by
liberals. They have so poisoned the electorate that no
Republicans can get elected. Republicans don't control
the presidency. Republicans don't control both houses
of Congress. Republicans don't control 28 of 50
governorships.


I stashed the above away, a while back. I don't recall the source, but I imagine it can be Googled.

pnorman

[Codeine]

19. Because that would be silly.

I don't need to be told how to think or have my content filtered through an ideological agenda. Just give me the news.

[snot]

20. BECAUSE LIBERALS DON'T OWN ANY NEWS CHANNELS.

[Syrinx]

21. Well, there isn't a conservative one either

Not in the terms you describe, I mean. Of course, Fox is right-wing as hell, but it doesn't "define itself as such." It defines itself as "fair and balanced," even though anyone with three functioning brain cells finds that claim hilarious.

[Coffee and Cake]

22. Never heard of Amy Goodman, John Stewart, Stephen Colbert?