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Media Matters
The Party-Controlled Press
Today, the mainstream media voluntarily behave the way the Soviet media were forced to.
In the old Soviet Union, everything was controlled by the Party, the Communist Party. Even military units each had their own party commissar, to ensure no activities took place that were not in the interest of the Party.
This, of course, was true of the media as well. The only media allowed in the old Soviet Union were institutions controlled by and devoted to the Party, and to the government run by the Party. The Soviet media would consequently slavishly repeat the government party line.
The question is, how is the so-called Mainstream Media in America today, under the new Obama Administration, any different from the media in the old Soviet Union? This American establishment media is also entirely controlled by and devoted to one Party, the Democrat party. Studies have long shown that roughly 90% of those working for these media institutions are Democrats. Already we can see with the emerging Obama Administration that this media is slavishly devoted to repeating the new government party line, extending the pattern they established during the campaign.
Of course, in the old Soviet Union, the media was forced by the government to follow the party line. In America today, the media voluntarily chooses to act the same way. That's even sicker, isn't it? (I am just exploring questions here.)
Today, in Russia, the Communist Party is gone, and government control of the media is less overt. But the government has still reasserted complete control over Russia's establishment, mainstream media, through intimidation and even force. Just think about how the Russian media behaved during the campaigns when Vladimir Putin ran for president. They were still slavishly devoted to him, and ridiculed and derided any opposition.
The question is, how did the American establishment, mainstream media behave any differently towards Obama during his presidential campaign this year than the Russian media did in regard to Putin during his presidential campaigns? True, the American media voluntarily chose to behave this way, while the Russian media was still cowed by government intimidation and force. But even with this difference, the American people are still suffering under a party-controlled press, rather than enjoying a free and independent press.
MEDIA RESEARCH CENTER (MRC) President Brent Bozell summarized the Obama campaign news media travesty this way: "Everyone should be forced to admit that the publicists formerly known as the 'news' media have worked themselves to the bone this year to elect Barack Obama." The MRC has carefully documented news media bias for over 20 years now, and offers a wealth of information and commentary at its website. The quotes and statistics cited below come from that source.
Here is some early tough reporting on Barack Obama from Joe Klein of Time magazine,
"Obama's personal appeal is made manifest when he steps down from the podium and is swarmed by well-wishers of all ages and hues…. Obama seemed the political equivalent of a rainbow -- a sudden, preternatural event inspiring awe and ecstasy…. He transcends the racial divide so effortlessly that it seems reasonable to expect that he can bridge all the other divisions -- and answer all the impossible questions -- plaguing American public life."
NBC reporter Lee Cowan admits, "It's almost hard to remain objective because it's infectious, the energy, I think. It sort of goes against your core to say that as a reporter, but the crowds have gotten so much bigger, his energy has gotten stronger."
Then there is MSNBC co-anchor Chris Mathews, who is as objective about Obama as Juliet was about Romeo, saying, "He's come from a white family and a black family, and he's married to a black woman, and they're cool people. They are really cool. They are Jack and Jackie Kennedy when you see them together. They are cool. And they're great looking, and they're cool and they're young."
Associated Press writer Charles Babington offered this tough political reporting on the Obama campaign last May, "Presidential campaigns have destroyed many bright and capable politicians. But there's ample evidence that Obama is something special, a man who makes difficult tasks look easy, who seems to touch millions of diverse people with a message of hope that somehow doesn't sound Pollyannish."
When John McCain visited Iraq in March to check on how his ultimately victorious surge strategy was working, he got all of 10 seconds of coverage on the CBS Evening News, and two minutes on the ABC evening news broadcast. But when Obama went to the Middle East in July for the first time ever, the anchors from each of the three major networks went along with him, and gave their broadcasts from overseas with the Obama campaign. MRC's monthly newsletter The Watchdog accurately summarized this coverage with the headline, "Liberal Media Are Nearly Worshipping Obama."
Mark Phillips of CBS News reported on Obama's Berlin speech during that trip:
"There is a bit of a morning-after feeling here in Berlin after what they're calling the 'Obama show.' But if the intent of this trip was to raise Barack Obama's foreign profile, it could hardly have been raised any higher…. The stage could not have been bigger. The 200,000-plus crowd confirmed his rock star status, and his more cooperative sounding rhetoric was what the crowd wanted to hear."
About the Author
Peter Ferrara is Senior Fellow at the Carleson Center for Public Policy, Director of Entitlement and Budget Policy for the Heartland Institute, and General Counsel of the American Civil Rights Union. He served in the White House Office of Policy Development under President Reagan, and as Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States under the first President Bush. He is the author of America’s Ticking Bankruptcy Bomb, now available from HarperCollins.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (470) | Leave a comment
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stu.b.con| 11.12.08 @ 8:24AM
Ironic that just prior to reading this piece I watched a clip on another site where Shep Smith called drive by media support for Obama 'preposterous'??.
What is prepostorous is the lack of any intellectual honesty or professionalism at nbccbsabccnnmsnbcnytimes...
Brian Cain| 11.12.08 @ 8:36AM
The MSM is the most corrupt institution (along with almost all Universities and the rest of the education crowd) and most be confronted and challenged every single day. I suggest a law suit against an entity (say MSNBC) as making in-kind campaign contributions to "O" in violation of the current campaign finance laws.
Other lawsuits should follow every time the MSM prints or broadcasts false information. Take both MSNBC and Fox for reporting that Sarah Palin did not know that Africa is a continent. Please. But they get away with this outrageous propaganda. I say sue every time they spread lies.
Brian Cain
bluecollarbytes| 11.12.08 @ 8:51AM
Shep Smith is a professional talking head. His career dictates his spoutings. In addition he's 'to cool for school'.
dgdc| 11.12.08 @ 8:52AM
Sure, sue MSNBC for partisanship. But first let's crush that most outrageously biased organzization The American Spectator
Joni| 11.12.08 @ 9:31AM
Ok, we all know the media swings completely left. I'm tired of hearing that WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?????????
John M| 11.12.08 @ 9:47AM
I would be curious to learn from an insider just how the liberal MSM manages to get all of their reporters and commentators to speak with such an amazingly unified voice, often using the exact same words. In Russia at least they would have the excuse of the ever present threat of physical violence, which has unfortunately befallen several prominent anti-Putin reporters. What are the implied threats or punishments that keep everyone in the traditional liberal MSM in line because it is impossible for me to believe that they could all be wild-eyed true believers in The One. Are all dissenting voices quashed at the editorial level?
C. Bensing| 11.12.08 @ 10:26AM
What I suggest is a petition like the one Gingrich had on his website about Drill Here Drill Now. There were millions of signatures that were sent to the Congress and it worked.But I'm not suggesting a petition to Congress (although that never hurts).
I would like to see a petition on a conservative site with advertised on other conservative sites, asking the Media to put aside their bias and report the news fairly but to back that up (asking won't do it) a list of sponsors for the worst offenders, CBS, NBC, ABC and CNN. Ask people to not only sign the petition but provide them with a list of sponsors they can contact to protest the actions of these stations and threaten to withdraw support from these sponsors if the media can't report fairly.
We may never see another fair election in this country if the media isn't forced to comment on the irregularities of this election and what the Obama whitehouse is going to be up to. We need the help of all like minded people, who desire a free and fair press to keep us informed, and to join the fight thats ahead. I don't personally have the where with all to do this nor would I have the traffic to make it effective. I also don't have the time to make a list of all the sponsors but I will be posting this in other comments and sending it to conservative site owners in hopes that someone will pick it up and do it. We need to start now to have any real effect.
I think this is something many people would participate in. Just waiting for media's demise is not enough. Hitting them in the purse strings could encourage or force them to change. If not, a boycott would get them out of the way. We only have two years to get some kind of pickup in Republicans in the House and Senate to hold off Obama's plans. It wouldn't hurt to hold the media's feet to the fire about this and try to force some change.
Peach| 11.12.08 @ 10:36AM
I notice that someone mentioned the MSM wasn't leaning liberal when it reported on the Monica Lewinsky debacle.
Apparently that poster has forgotten that Newsweek was going to report the story but spiked it to protect the president.
geokstr| 11.12.08 @ 10:40AM
Yes, the media is slanted to the left, but you have put the cart before the horse.
They are not controlled by the democrat party, because they do not have to be. Instead, they are overwhelmingly populated by leftists, and will lean towards whichever party is to the left, without any central control necessary.
As the Media Research Center has documented for decades, that editors, reporters, anchors, producers, even journalism professors and their students, all lean way to the left, usually by 10 to 1, even when asked to self-identify themselves as liberals, conservatives or moderates. So their natural propensity as a group is to attack the right and glorify the left, without even being told to do so. Then they publicly congratulate each other for their "fairness".
They associate only with other liberals, are praised by all the liberal celebrities and politicians, seek "expert" advice only from leftists groups and academics. How could they be biased, they ask, look, everybody we know agrees with us?
Understanding who Bill Ayers is and what he and his ilk have done for the last many decades is the key to this problem. He knew that his kind could never win at the ballot box because this is a center-right country. So he began the process of creating converts to his ideology from kindergarten up through indoctrination:
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/04/obamas_real_bill_ayers_problem.html
If you look at history textbooks from the 1st grade through college level, they have all be re-written by the left to indoctrinate the kids to the left. Ever wonder why the "youth" vote broke heavily for Obama? It's because they've been taught that capitalism is evil, that communism wasn't so bad (many born since the late 1980's have barely even heard of communism), and that patriotism is jingoistic. You'll barely find any mention of Washington, Jefferson, or Lincoln, but there will be an entire chapter on the brilliant philsophy of Malcolm X. You won't see any mention of the 100 million people exterminated by communists in the last century, only that they were misguided and that Reagan had nothing to do with their downfall. Diversity and multi-culturalism are shoved down kids' throats.
They have stolen the minds of at least the last two generations. Our schools produce legions of good little leftists every day.
The only way we will ever take this back is to fight back through the schools with a very long term strategy. However, given that the right is not as prone to zealotry as the left, I doubt we have the cohesion and will to engage in such a battle to win the minds of our youth back from the left.
Bart| 11.12.08 @ 11:09AM
I would hardly call FoxNews a friend of conservatives or conservative values. Just this morning I'm hearing Shep Smith tell us that it's "perposterous" to think the media was in the tank for Obama. Just perposterous.
And then there's that little cretin Carl Cameron...
Perposterous, I tell you. Just perposterous.
Sheryl| 11.12.08 @ 11:28AM
I realize allowances must be made for fervent Obama supporters in the understanding department, but even "Obama Rules,"who feels compelled to try to educate conservatives at every opportunity on this site, must be able to see the difference between TAS and the mainstream media. TAS is a conservative publication and site which openly states that and presents that view, to be taken or left. The mainstream media, of which this article mostly speaks, pretends to be objectively reporting the "facts" to the American public, while in reality acting as a cheering section for The One. And, by the way, Mr. Rules' clever aside concerning Fox News is addressed in the article itself.
Chip| 11.12.08 @ 11:29AM
In Russia the CP is not "gone" as you say. That's a giant glaring mistake.
Red Neck| 11.12.08 @ 11:30AM
Obama rules... a ship of fools. Who may have mutiny on their minds.
It's still far from clear if Demonrats will defer to Obama's wishes should he actually choose to keep some of the less-lefty stances that he professed in recent months. If he does that, he's going to get a whole lot of "what the f---ing s--- are you doing, Chief" from Rahmbo. That would wear almost anybody down.
Speedbump| 11.12.08 @ 11:36AM
I was going to respond to the nonsense being spouted by Obama Rules, but that would only provoke and legitimize his/her total lack of understanding of reality. The best course for us here should be to completely ignore these posts and consider them for what they are, the mindless ravings of a far left lunatic.
There; I feel better now.
geokstr, you hit the nail on the head...I remember when I was dating a writer for the local paper a few years ago...she and her friends were all lefties, and you are correct, they only associate among themselves and have absolutely no idea what the real world is like...intelligent people, but everything they 'know' is simply wrong...
Red Neck| 11.12.08 @ 11:37AM
Oh, what was said on Fox about Obama pales to nothing standing next to the filth and lies that were heaped by the Alphabet Soups on John McCain and Sarah Palin.
And yes, to affirm another comment, the Communist Party still lives in Russia. It simply has (for now) to suffer the existence of competing parties. If it succeeds in getting other parties shut out again, history shows us where that will go.
What has happened with the Alphabet Soups is just another example of capitalists buying the rope that hangs them.
John M| 11.12.08 @ 11:40AM
I've noticed that Obama Rules and others on the left seem to love using the equivalency gambit as a means of curtailing argument. The equivalency gambit is one of the left's favorite propaganda tools where for every actual fault or defect in the left's position a plausibly equivalent behavior or characteristic is falsely attributed to the opposing side, implying in effect that the two wrongs cancel each other out. Our side may do it, but so does yours, so let's stop the argument right there and move on to something else. Recognize this propaganda trick for what it is because you'll see it used time and time again.
Anthony| 11.12.08 @ 11:45AM
Geokstr has it exactly right. I would only add to John M's inquiry that groupthink and herd mentality are at work when the leftist media set the narrative and use the same phrases to describe a person or situation. Once a member of the "club" sets the narrative for a particular situation, (think Gov. Palin) or uses a descriptive phrase or word, the suits at the networks, and their talking heads, have cover to glom on. In the past, it's been the NY Times, but in the world of instant 24/7 cable, it's now one of their talking heads that sets the agenda. The "gravitas" appellation given to Cheney was a perfect example, same recently with the "Bush being gracious" comments. Nobody from the herd will stray from the leftist orthodoxy, dare they risk explusion. Nor do they want to, as Geokstr stated.
The fleet moves in unison albeit with some minor deviations, because it has the same agenda. The only exceptions are the firebrands that just want to be different for the sake of it. O'Reilly comes to mind. The scary part are idiots like Chris Matthews announcing that their job is to support Obama, things could get dicy.
mnotaro| 11.12.08 @ 11:48AM
I saw almost no journalist during this election stay objective...it was like their opinions were pouring out of them with their smiles and their tones and their tears of joy when Obama won...PU LEEEZ!! And why is it that the MSM are all a bunch of liberal illuminati? Why can't they all be a bunch a right wing conservatives?
Red Neck| 11.12.08 @ 11:53AM
John M. spot on.
The equivalency argument can go to absurd lengths. It is a diversion from looking at the ends towards looking at the means. If we say it's OK to kill at all for the sake of anything at all (such as stopping the actors in a movement aimed at violent attack on the USA), then voila to the lefties we have the excuse for the likes of Che Guevara. It is to vomit.
Yellowrose| 11.12.08 @ 11:56AM
Obama Rules, you keep saying that the media drug Clinton through the mud in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Not so. The media covered for Clinton all during that fiasco. They trumpeted the line tht "It's only about sex. It's not about abuse of power or perjury. It doesn't matter. It should be a private matter." They allowed Clinton to lie and to get away with it when they knew he was lying. They took their instructions and dutifully villified the messengers -- Linda Tripp, Paula Jones, Monica herself, Ken Starr, the Republicans. -- instead of directing any kind of outrage at Clinton. If Clinton had been a Republican during that mess, they would have long joined forces and forced him from office. But instead the media covered for Clinton and did everything they could to mimimize all of his misdeeds for 8 years and to keep his approval rating up. They were just as responsible for his approval ratings being high, by not telling the truth about him, as they are for pushing President Bush's low, by the same method -- by not tellinig the truth about President Bush. We all hated and complained about the media bias just as much during the Clinton years as we do now because it hasn't changed. So you are wrong.
David J| 11.12.08 @ 12:02PM
The poster who calls himself Obamarules needs to get a job. I could mention to him all the conservative articles I read on the Daily Koss, but I won't even bother, since he seems to insist on showing everyone how totally ignorant he really is.
You REALLY can't tell that our Nation's Universities are totally corrupt, due to Unionized faculty? You do have a problem!
yellowrose| 11.12.08 @ 12:02PM
Also to Obama Rules -- you might want to change your call name. Obama's aid, Valerie Jarret said on TV that Obama was ready to "rule" from day one. Well, guess what, we dont' have "rulers" in America. We don't elect kings. We have leaders who "serve" the people of this country. But that is not the arrogant, prideful Obama's mindset, nor the mindset of his followers. He want to "rule" us and they obviously want a "ruler" to bow down too and worship and give over all of their freedom to. Is Obama going to become a Communist overlord and 'ruler/dictator" the likes of Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro? Will the American people allow that or will we finally wake up and reclaim our constitution of government of the people by the people -- not by "rulers" like Obama. I'm not optimistic as long as there seems to be so many people out there who think like Obama Rules.
David J| 11.12.08 @ 12:06PM
mnotaro - you are wrong. The question is "Why can't they be objective, unbiased, and honest"? What ever happened to INTEGRITY? You don't have to be a conservative to be honest, do you?
Howard| 11.12.08 @ 12:08PM
I heard a clip on the radio last week. Chris Matthews was given the position of host of Meet The Press. He commented that his responsibility is to insure the success of the new administration. This is incredible. His job is to be an honest broker. It does not mean that you sabotage Obama (unlike the torque job given Bush), but that you report the facts to the best of your ability. This attitude of Matthews is a violation of journalistic responsibility. Oh by the way, Obama Rules, this site is a political opinion site. It is not a newspaper. People should treat people with respect, but there is no reason to edit for balance. I'm sure The Nation has a primarily left wing audience. I never hear anyone call for quotas.
Bud Wiser| 11.12.08 @ 12:33PM
My friends, the only war that true patriots of this country should be fighting in is a "non-violent" ideological war against Liberalism and Democrats. Forget about the war on terror. That's really just a distraction from the bigger picture of what's happening to this country. Why should our soldiers fight and die in foreign lands when the very freedom of this country they are fighting for is at risk of falling to communism?
I fear that it may be too late and that this country has already lost the ideological war to the Left. Think about it. The Left now controls the Presidency, House, Senate, a majority of Governorships & State Legislatures, the MSM, Education, Unions, etc. Can you say Communist New World Order? Wake up! It's here right now at our very doorstep. The 'One' has already declared that he's ready to RULE starting on day one. Rule? Does he think he's a dictator? Was the war on terror and now the economic crisis just an elaborate ploy to distract us from the globalist takeover by the Communist NWO? I wouldn't be surprised if we end up paying 75% in taxes to redistribute our wealth around the globe.
Conservatives better wake up and get a spine and learn how to either fight the battle now or learn how to live in a commune where everyone makes the same amount of money and there is no incentive to produce because any wealth that you do earn is taken away by govt.
One of the biggest (if not THE biggest) problems this country is facing is the leftist bias in the media and academia. How about a fairness doctrine for them too?
For starters, we need to confront these media and academia liberals by shoving their liberal garbage down their own throats. We can do this by organizing, paying for, and running ads in their very own newspapers and TV stations in an effort to wake up and educate the masses of what's going on. Think about it. If the Right had run harder-hitting ads about liberalism and about Obama, we might have won this election. As it is not one journalist in this country has even asked the one to produce evidence of his hospital generated birth certificate. How about running those ads? How about running ads on why the one is hiding all his college records? It's not too late. I say keep the ads going. Maybe it will snap people out of their brainwashing. To battle the MSM we cannot afford to only run ads during election season. We need to run them every day.
Bob| 11.12.08 @ 1:55PM
You guys are a bunch of whiners (give Phil Gramm the credit on that one). Grow up. Instead of being anti-intellectual, go to college, get a degree in Journalism, and get into the fray. And listen objectively! The news media is not "left" because of their ideology, they are that way to make more money. Fox found a way to cater to right wing whackos just like MSNBC is finding a way to cater to left wing whackos like Olberman and Maddow. This is business -- you know, something conservative Republicans support!!!
You seem to be arguing for some sort of "fairness doctrine". I thought that was something you didn't want.
So get over it. Find some solutions and candidates that appeal to the public in general and you'll be surprised how the almighty media comes to your side. Remember, it's not about ideology, it's about profits.
Now get off your low horse and start building rather than complaining.
Engineer| 11.12.08 @ 2:44PM
People have been voting with their feet and dropping newspaper subscriptions and watching less and less news. The gap in coverage is on the right. Fox IS even handed, but how much share would it (and to a lesser extent the old-line MSM outlets) lose to real conservative network that tilted 2:1 against the Democrats the way the MSM tilts against the GOP? Of course, someone has to have the coin to put together that sort of operaton.
m.k.| 11.12.08 @ 2:50PM
yellowrose: Not that I agree with "obama rules", but i you're dating yourself by not recognizing that he's just using slang, like "obama's great". For example, when youngsters say "Taco Bell rules", I don't think they're implying that mexican food governs the nation.
aware| 11.12.08 @ 4:45PM
"I've yet to read one positive story on President-Elect Barack Obama on the American Spectator web site. Yet, you guys aren't biased at all, I take it? "...Then why do you keep smelling up the place with your stupid posts? Oh I forgot you get paid to, huh. People like this know-it-all are part of a childish plot to disrupt and anger people on conservative sites. He's not here to learn or teach, just insult. It's like listening to a 6th grader who really thinks he's the smartest guy in the room.
Red Neck| 11.12.08 @ 6:04PM
Isn't "Obama Rules" itself out of date?
Shouldn't it be something like 'bizzle Rizzle?
Red Neck| 11.12.08 @ 7:08PM
I don't know... but for the first time in my life you really made me smile, you pathetic troll!!
B. Hussein Obama| 11.12.08 @ 7:21PM
Obama Rules, please use another nickname, bro!
I do not hate conservatives at all, you know and I never insult them! Do not forget I'm a lawyer and the minute I feel tired yawning among jerks, I'll switch to the GOP...
Red Neck| 11.12.08 @ 7:28PM
We're having a failure to communicate, ObamaRules, just check around for a minute and you'll realize this is a civilized website and you're just making yourself look like a horse ass! Why should we read your garbage whereas it is forced down our throat everyday by your friends in the liberal media? You got nothing new to teach us.
R. Boris T.| 11.12.08 @ 7:34PM
Dead on Article! But we CAN beat the msm!
Conservatives take heart and stand up! Our ideas are right. They are true. They are the principals that founded this Republic. They are exciting! They are inspiring! They have moved people to greatness! They are in fact the ideas Americans LOVE! They WANT our ideas! They NEED our ideas! They just rarely get to hear them any more.
The Press doesn’t allow it.
There is a solution. Overthrow the press! Read this and tell me what you think:
http://www.redstate.com/diaries/rborist/2008/nov/12/overthrow-the-msm-in-selected-states-near-you/
Nommin| 11.12.08 @ 7:49PM
Learning from the comments here in the last week, we can identify the following culprits in the recent election: the mainstream media, the school system, universities, the Supreme Court, ACORN, gays, the Chicago machine, Latinos (70%!), unCatholic Catholics, African Americans (95%!), and RINOs. Are there any more villians in the country? Consider that in the present state of affairs, the majority of voters did not side with the Republican platform.
Red Neck| 11.12.08 @ 7:54PM
... and don't you forget our own Obama Rules, who somehow managed to vote in 10,000 different districts... shouldn't he change his alias for ACORN Rules?
Dr. D| 11.12.08 @ 9:10PM
Obama Rules, you just ain't too bright, are you boy? TAS clearly is a partisan publication, and has every right to be. The NY Times is supposed to be a newspaper, and NBC News is supposed to be a news outlet. Of course, they are free to be partisan, as long as they are willing to jettison all semblence of journalistic principles. As far as keeping Americans dumb and uneducated, our public education system has been wildly successful in that endeavor. I would wager that you are a prime example of that success.
Eugene Debbs| 11.12.08 @ 11:47PM
Comparing the media in the United States today to the state controlled and censored media of the Soviet Union is foolish.
Mr Ferrara writes that "the American people are still suffering under a party-controlled press, rather than enjoying a free and independent press."
This is nonsense. Journalists compete with one another both within newsrooms and among news agencies.
In some ways the media have reflected the political preference of a large majority of voters perhaps. But the idea that the press is somehow a servant of a particular political party is just ludicrous.
Everyone thinks the press is against him. Especially the guys in power.
The fact is, parties lose elections for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it's just Americans' sense that it's the other party's turn that swings enough votes. At other times, if a party is associated with a bad economy, nothing the press did could change the outcome.
But let's remember the most important thing. There's a marketplace of ideas in this county. Weak, shallow, foolish ideas (like those espoused above) are eventually marginalized and defeated.
Conservatives ran on stale ideas three decades old. They ran two candidates who could not articulate the best that (even) those ideas had to offer. One of the candidates could not put together a single sentence of proper English.
You're supposed to be the party of accountability.
Face it. You lost. You lost because you lost. Dan Rather make you lose; Whoopie Goldberg make you lose; Chris Matthews or the NY Times make you lose.
John McCain and Sarah Palin failed to persuade enough people to vote for them.
That's the way it works in this country.
You should really think twice before comparing the greatest democracy in the history of the world to the Soviet Union. It's weak, contemptible, foolish, completely inaccurate, and morally insane.
Alan Brooks| 11.13.08 @ 12:11AM
Raised by a liberal family and knowing counterculturalists and 'futurists' well I can tell you the theory is the media is a 'little' more biased today but less "heavy", less fusty and curmudgeonly.
translation: you pay $2.95 for a rag that is fluffy and more People magazine-like
I switched to conservative because I wasn't learning anything from liberals except for maybe science-related trivia. You know, "stem cell research is..."
Informed Counsel| 11.13.08 @ 10:44AM
You may wish to gaze upon a recently released presentation made by the Committee of Concerned Journalists at the September 2008 Annual Convention of the Society of Professional Journalists.
It appears that the journalism profession is questioning its own ethics, just as those most liberal among them seek to silence debate, dissent and disagreement on public policy issues, such as climate change, multilateralism, health care, etc.
Please review this presentation and discuss it with your viewers.
See: MAKING POLITICS MATTER, Committee of Concerned Journalists (Sept. 5, 2008), at:
http://www.spj.org/convention/handouts/making-politics-matter.doc
Eugene Debbs| 11.13.08 @ 1:05PM
Please, Informed Counsel.
At least point out that the fact that "journalism...is questioning its own ethics" is the source of one of its strengths.
Journalists are ALWAYS questioning their ethics, their coverage, their biases. They debate these questions among themselves and in public constantly.
THIS IS THE WHOLE BLOODY POINT!!!
Good journalists, unlike political hacks and hitmen, have a professional commitment to their profession that makes them interrogate themselves and their own motives at every turn.
When was the last time Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity questioned himself or his "ethics" in public?
Mark Oberle| 11.14.08 @ 12:54PM
The problem that too many of us have confused "journalism" with "propaganda"
Journalist report facts and draw conclusions, all the while noting unanswered questions , missing facts, and acknowledging opposing views. Propagandists present opinion supported by untested assumptions and selected facts. Both appear regularly in the "mainstream media," and both seek a "market" for their product. Informed consumers are those that patronize multiple sources of conflicting points of view and ignore the obviouse propagandists.
If you are reading the American Spectator, you should also be reading The Nation.
skillsss| 11.14.08 @ 9:54PM
Has Comcast has been censoring conservative opinions?
Because dominant ISP Comcast is a gateway to the internet, they control many eyeballs. In my opinion and others, Comcast has been systematically censoring conservative opinions on their political message boards. If comcast gets tax breaks from local government, then they have both a civic and moral obligation to provide fair and balanced moderation of their message boards.
This type of social engineering is an outrage. Please get involved. Silence is consent.
Here are several references:
Why would this thread be locked (try and post a message)
http://community.comcast.net/comcastportal/board/message board.id=news&message;.id=223660#M223660
This is outrageous
http://www.shirley08.com/petitions/pnum835.php
Take action
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_susan_al_080512_comcast_censorship_3a_.htm
or post a strong conservative view here yourself and see what happens
http://community.comcast.net/comcastportal/board?board.id=news
Liberty| 11.15.08 @ 10:38PM
As poster said above: What are we going to do about it? Well, I think I will send email to all MSM & say I will only be watching your programs to discover your advertisers whom I will directly contact to submit my dissatisfaction with the programing and that I will make it a point to avoid purchase of their products.
Nommin| 11.17.08 @ 12:44PM
Everybody agrees TV news is slanted left. But, everybody also agrees TV fare is brain-dead. This may negate the concern raised here.