There We Went Again (MSM far more powerful than conservatives believe)

American Spectator ^ | Matthew Sheffield and Noel Sheppard

[RatherBiased.com]

Most observers of the 2008 presidential campaign -- even including some liberals after the fact -- were shocked and appalled by the media's pro-Barack Obama sycophancy. Unfortunately, the intentional and unintentional advocacy of the media on behalf of Obama was even worse in 2012.

There are many reasons why the conservative movement failed to achieve electoral success this year, but perhaps one of the most significant is the enduring power and influence of the left-dominated "mainstream" media. The 2012 cycle demonstrated that left-wing journalists have far more sway on Americans' opinions than many conservatives have been willing to admit.

While the right's ability to access mass audiences has increased substantially in recent decades with the advent of talk radio, cable television, and the Internet, its audience reach is still tiny compared to the hundreds of millions who consume news generated by the liberal mainstream media.

It is true that the audience share of these supposedly objective outlets has decreased in recent years, but that hardly means they have lost their ability to persuade people, especially with working journalists now ever more willing to throw their self-styled proclamations of objectivity to the wind.

[abb]

And for the record, I intend to stay here on FRee Republic for as long as it lasts, or I pass on, whichever comes first.

FR is but a training ground to educate each other on how to teach the unwashed on why conservatism is a superior political theory. All we have to do is spread the good word.

We have the technological tools to do it.

[Travis McGee]