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Media see liberals as the mainstream
Miami Herald Online ^ | Monday, April 1, 2002 | BERNARD GOLDBERG

Posted on 04/01/2002 3:56:50 AM PST by JohnHuang2

BERNARD GOLDBERG Media see liberals as the mainstream

In Bias, I say that the media identify conservatives more often than they identify liberals, mostly because they see conservatives as out of the mainstream and see liberals not as liberals, but as the mainstream -- and therein lays a major problem of bias in the media.

Now along comes Stanford Professor Geoffrey Nunberg who says that I have it all wrong, that ``if there is a bias here, the data suggest that it goes the other way -- that the media consider liberals to be farther from the mainstream than conservatives are.''

The professor has lots of numbers to prove his point.

But so do I. For example, a review of The New York Times, from Jan. 1 through June 30, 2001, shows that the word conservative popped up in news stories 1,580 times; liberal only 802.

The Los Angeles Times ran only 98 stories about the Concerned Women for America and identified the group as conservative 28 times. But The LA Times ran more than 1,000 stories on the National Organization for Women and labeled NOW liberal only seven times.

On and on it goes, showing that the big-time media in fact do label the right more often than they label the left. And this tells me how they see conservatives and how they see liberals.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
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Monday, April 1, 2002

Quote of the Day by liberalism=failure 4/1/02

1 posted on 04/01/2002 3:56:50 AM PST by JohnHuang2
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To: AuntB;nunya bidness;GrandmaC;Washington_minuteman;tex-oma;buffyt;Grampa Dave;Jolly Rodgers...

2 posted on 04/01/2002 3:57:34 AM PST by JohnHuang2
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To: JohnHuang2
This sounds like the liberal establishment has pondered its response to Goldberg's allegations, and this is the spin they'll try to use to disarm the new threat. Of course, it's a crock, but "a good offense" and all that ...
3 posted on 04/01/2002 4:01:07 AM PST by IronJack
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To: IronJack
Morning, I.J. Hope you enjoyed the holidays, amigo.
4 posted on 04/01/2002 4:02:16 AM PST by JohnHuang2
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To: JohnHuang2
Thanx for putting me on your ping list.
5 posted on 04/01/2002 4:19:25 AM PST by altura
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To: altura
You're more than welcome.
6 posted on 04/01/2002 4:20:24 AM PST by JohnHuang2
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To: JohnHuang2
Listen up! Black is white and white is black. And don't you forget it!
7 posted on 04/01/2002 4:39:17 AM PST by FrogMom
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To: IronJack
As long as "Bias" is on the best seller list, the Liberal media will be under pressure to explain themselves.
8 posted on 04/01/2002 4:39:56 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: JohnHuang2
God bless Bernie Goldberg for being able to get this data publicized. Conservatives have recognized for years the 'right-wing, conservative' identifier that is always used when certain organizations are referred to in print; and that the corresponding 'left-wing, liberal' is never used on the organizations that deserve it.

The mere fact that it was not even discussed until the facts were uttered by a 'liberal' shows the truth of the charge.

9 posted on 04/01/2002 4:40:37 AM PST by maica
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To: JohnHuang2
Sidebar.

Normally on this day every year, you see alot of April Fools posts.

Haven't seen one yet. Have FReepers lost their sense of humor?

Oh, and buenas dias!

5.56mm

10 posted on 04/01/2002 4:40:51 AM PST by M Kehoe
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To: FrogMom
Nunberg is the leftwing Stanford/Xerox double-dipper who has also argued that English-language laws are racist.
11 posted on 04/01/2002 4:41:42 AM PST by gaspar
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To: M Kehoe
Buenos dias, amigo.
12 posted on 04/01/2002 4:41:53 AM PST by JohnHuang2
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To: JohnHuang2
Good people, many of you have fallen into the same trap as most Americans.

The left in this country,(news media, entertainment industry, academia, etc.) have applied the Communist two steps forward and one step back.

The conservatives always were the mainstream. Conservatives by right are the mainstream though most think they have been displaced by the left. The left has worked with a constant frenzied drumbeat since the 60s to convince America that conservatives, especially moral conservatives are the usurpers, when in fact it is the left.

The left, while making a bold attempt to make the left the mainstream, will for now settle (if need be) for an easier goal. They will settle for making someone with conservative moral and political viewpoints appear to be an extremist. They like to make Woodstock (sex, drugs, rock n' roll in the mud) and the viewpoints of the 60's rebels something to be admired. The conservative I know have a much different view of the 60s and of most of the values the 60s helped displace.

The left agrees with the Bill Clinton, Madonna, the NEA and Rosie O'Donnell on the moral issues. They agree with Lawrence Tribe and Alan Dershowitz on the legal issues, while worshipping a "kinder, gentler Karl Marx" on the economic issues.

The left are the usurpers, they are the pretenders. (Though they are the heroes and people to admire in any T.V. show or Hollywood movie, so the kids will know who to admire in real life)

The left has pushed extremely hard to the left and do not mind taking one step back, (temporarily) allowing the mainstream to be somewhere between the far-left and the moderate left. They know they can take another couple of steps to the left later. For now, until the leftist coup is completed, the moral, legal and economic conservatives are the true mainstream, since the pop culture mainstream was artificially produced.

13 posted on 04/01/2002 5:21:06 AM PST by Old Landmarks
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To: JohnHuang2
..... And this tells me how they see conservatives and how they see liberals .....

Gosh, can't get away wit' nuttin' no more!

That ol' Psychopathological Projection Syndrome [Invented by me] will neon sign you every darn time!

G'Mornin' -- and Happy Fools Day, John.

14 posted on 04/01/2002 5:45:08 AM PST by Brian Allen
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To: gaspar
In other words, Nunberg's further from the mainstream than you and I are. Hey, maybe he's got something here.
15 posted on 04/01/2002 5:50:11 AM PST by Whilom
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If conservatives are in the mainstream, than why is it necessary to label them so often?

The use of the term "conservative" in many of these instances was as a putdown. They hoped by using "conservative" to describe say, Concerned Women of America, they could dilute their argument. Similar terms the media loved to use were "ultra-conservative", "far right wing", "extremist right" "anti-choice", "anti-gay rights". "the Christian right" "anti-affirmative action". anti-everything they were for.

Conservatives were "controversial". Liberals like Jesse Jackson or Ted Kennedy never were.

Then there was the damning with faint praise technique. A conservative was " a thinking conservative" or a "compassionate conservative" as --opposed to those other really nasty, but unlabeled conservatives (sic).

Recent classic example of this kind of nastiness was used by worn-out liberal Larry King when he described the late Barbara Olson thusly in People magazine:

"She was a rock-ribbed conservative, BUT YOU HAD TO LIKE HER ANYWAY". Did this old fool realize how insulting his remarks about Barbara Olson and what she believed in really was?

16 posted on 04/01/2002 6:21:18 AM PST by catonsville
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To: JohnHuang2
Thanks for the heads up!
17 posted on 04/01/2002 6:28:33 AM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: JohnHuang2
On and on it goes, showing that the big-time media in fact do label the right more often than they label the left. And this tells me how they see conservatives and how they see liberals.

LOL, what a great discovery!

18 posted on 04/01/2002 8:36:14 AM PST by Victoria Delsoul
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To: JohnHuang2
The liberal media sure isn't censoring Goldberg any. His book has received more press and Goldberg himself has appeared on more programs and in more articles lately than just abut any author in recent memory. The liberal media even distributed that photo of Bush carrying Goldberg's book -- which was bound to sell another 10,000 copies. Why would the liberal media go so far out of its way to help Goldberg criticize it?
19 posted on 04/01/2002 9:33:28 AM PST by Truebador
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To: gaspar
Nunberg is the leftwing Stanford/Xerox double-dipper who has also argued that English-language laws are racist.

Details, please? I'm in the middle of a debate with a bunch of lefty psychos praising this nobody as God.

20 posted on 04/01/2002 2:17:55 PM PST by Timesink
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