Posted on 04/25/2004 1:11:20 PM PDT by Maria S
Dear Dan, Peter and Tom,
I know you've been wondering where viewers like me have gone.
I've read some of the theories put forth in recent studies, and I need to set the record straight. We aren't too busy. We haven't stopped watching nightly news.
No, most of us - people you would label as conservatives - have stopped watching because you don't present our perspective anymore. It wasn't that long ago that we welcomed you into our homes every evening, and, whether the news was negative (the downing of PanAm 103) or positive (the success of a space shuttle mission), we felt united in the experience. As Americans of different political persuasions, we grieved or celebrated together.
Of course, there were controversial issues even then (the abortion debate, for instance), but we still felt represented. It seemed to us that you strove for objectivity. Even though we knew you favored the more liberal side of the issue, you covered both perspectives. We appreciated that and respected you for it.
But then came the election of 2000 and the Florida recount, and, from the perspective of people like me, everything changed. Your stories led with the liberal point of view: "The Gore vote is 'undercounted' in Florida." "The U.S. Supreme Court 'gives' the election to George W. Bush." If our view was presented at all, it came from an interview with a conservative wacko who made us look foolish and out of touch.
No longer was your political commentary reserved for the end of newscasts and clearly marked as commentary; it permeated the hard news itself - a raised eyebrow here, a grimace there.
Stories we thought were important (the Democratic effort to throw out the votes of our soldiers stationed overseas) were either left out or buried.
So, to get the whole news, we found other sources: The Fox News Channel, The Drudge Report on the Internet, talk radio.
Then came 9/11, a tragedy that seemed to bring us together again. In the days following that horrible attack, we were not Democrats or Republicans, liberals or conservatives; we were just Americans. We all resolved to comfort the survivors and punish the perpetrators. We watched you again in the war in Afghanistan. Though you still presented a liberal slant, you strove for fairness, and, more importantly, you seemed to celebrate the success of America, even if it came under a conservative administration.
But the war in Iraq and a presidential election year have changed all of that. In fact, to people like me, the network news bias seems far worse than it was in the aftermath of the Florida recount.
Your disdain for this president and his administration is no longer veiled, which threatens to further distance you from conservative viewers.
More importantly, it seems to distance you from your own liberal values.
You are now in the awkward position of supporting an angry white male connected to the intelligence community over an articulate black female who spent most of her professional life in education.
You give more air time to haters of an American president (at home and abroad) than you do to the haters of America who perpetrated 9/11 and who, even now, are planning further attacks on this country. You say you support our troops, but ask the troops if they feel supported. We have countless polls testing the popularity of the president.
Let's do one to gauge the trustworthiness of network news among our nation's bravest.
I'm not asking you to shelve your objectivity. Errors, even conservative errors, need to be reported. Just show some balance. The greatest enemy of America is not President Bush, and, however imperfectly, his administration is working night and day to keep this nation free, including people like you who often make it look bad.
In short, Dan, Peter and Tom, we haven't left you; you've left us. Come back to us and we'll come back to you.
Mike Bellah teaches English at Amarillo College.
But then came the election of 2000 and the Florida recount, and, from the perspective of people like me, everything changed."
Does this person really think that the mainstream media only became biased after 2000?
I hope not.
It (liberal bias) became more evident, really started full bore with President Reagan (Nixon was just the run up).
Doesn't matter now, with the Internet, and Talk radio their collective ratings (except Fox) and revenues continue to go south. 8^)
5.56mm
I nominate Mike for mayor, congress or whatever....
In short, DanRatherbiased, Petah and Brokejaw, don't come back. Stay over there and I'll stay over here. I like it this way.
The only difference is we now have the internet to tell us the truth.
Did our military suffer a defeat or victory in the Tet offencive in Viet Nam. Brokaw, Cronkite and Rather said it was a massive defeat because we were out smarted . They told us the South Vietnamese did not care enuough to defend their own nation.
Now we know it was a great victory for our side due in large part becuase the South Vietnamese forces deafeated the North Vietnamese attackers. But back then we had no way to know the truth. The media as our only source.
Did the media tell us of Clinton's and his sexual exploits? Or did they surpress them until Drugde on the internet blew the whistle on him.
Did Dan Rather and Cronkite tell us that Jimmy Carter out debated Ronald Reagan in 1980? They sure did. Those that did not watch the debates were certain that Jimmy bested Ronnie.
Did the media get upset when Democrats broke into Barry Goldwaters campaign headquarters to screw it up? Did they do anything in congress when the guys who did it wrote a book after the election braging about it?
Did the media get upset when Republicans broke into the DNC in 1972 to find out what the Democrats were up to?
Did the media get upset when Ikes Chief of staff took a wool coat from a South American goverment to promote its wool producing sheep? Yes he had to resign.
Did the media get upset when Clinton took tons of loot from the Chinese using Gore was the bag man?
I can give you a thouand examples. The media has always been biased.
What they have yet to figure out is that a large number of us have caught them in the act and no longer believe them.
The only thing different from 20 years aog is sites like FR. FR prevents the leftist media from gettting away with it. As people find out, they stop viewing.
Yes, we have.
Come back to us and we'll come back to you.
No, we won't.
Prairie
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