Posted on 09/08/2009 3:46:54 AM PDT by Kaslin
As a college student back in the stone ages, one bumper sticker I always saw plenty of when attending Republican events said “CBS is Rather Biased.” Well, it wasn’t the stone ages, but it was during the Reagan years, which now seems in so many ways ages ago. The point is that conservatives have complained about media bias for decades.
An egregious example of media bias just played out in the Van Jones story – one I believe highlights a major shift in the mainstream media. First though, a bit of background is worth considering.
Conservatives have not only complained about media bias, but for many years have attempted to achieve balance in the mainstream media in various ways.
Watchdog groups like Brent Bozell’s Media Research Center have identified, tracked and catalogued liberal media bias hoping to shame those in the mainstream media into at least attempting the appearance of balance. Alternative media have emerged to do some of the reporting those in the mainstream media have refused to do, at times even forcing those traditional news outlets to cover the stories themselves.
Rush Limbaugh’s incredibly popular syndicated talk radio show was one of the first big successes for conservatives trying to get their message past the mainstream media. More recently, the rise of the internet and Fox News Channel have enabled stories ignored by the mainstream media to reach a mass audience.
One hope conservatives have had all along was that those in the mainstream media would be shamed into covering stories that those in alternative media exposed. That hope has unfortunately seldom been realized.
With the commercial success of Rush Limbaugh and the Fox News Channel, conservatives hoped those in the mainstream media would see the market for a conservative viewpoint and would add that perspective to their coverage, or at least tone down their liberal slant. If shame didn’t work, maybe the power of the profit motive would. Evidently some things are more important to NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN and MSNBC than money, and those things are not truth and fairness.
As those network news organizations hemorrhaged viewers, Fox News Channel grew to not only be the number one cable news channel, but to often outperform its cable rivals several fold.
If those in the mainstream media had been smart they would have hired some young and hungry reporters determined to find the truth, regardless of the associated political ramifications. They might have hired editors and producers who would make it a point to review their work with a critical eye, looking for bias. They might have at the very least tried to hire a few people with conservative leanings to let them know what their conservative readers, listeners and viewers might want to see covered. That didn’t happen though, at least not often enough to note.
What is happening now is something those in the conservative movement might not have ever dreamed possible. Although the goal of reforming the mainstream media has not been achieved, something more amazing has. In some ways the outlets conservatives hoped would provide balance to the mainstream media, are becoming the mainstream.
Something happened last week that underscored this phenomenon. News outlets like the New York Times and NBC and ABC evening newscasts refused to cover the revelations surrounding President Obama’s “green jobs” czar, Van Jones. When those revelations of Jones signing a 911 “Truther” petition, calling Republicans a—holes and claiming white polluters were poisoning black communities reached the point that Jones was forced to resign, some of those news outlets had to cover the resignation. What should cause them embarrassment and damage any shred of credibility they have left as reliable news sources is that many of them had neglected to inform their audiences of any of the events leading up to the resignation.
As Andrew Breitbart put it, “For most people in this country, the resignation was the first they had heard of Van Jones. For this sin of journalistic omission, there's institutional media blame. Bias is too tame a word for the utter shamelessness on display: Only Republican scandals - real and imagined - matter.”
Blogger Kim Priestap said that since Fox News was the only media outlet to cover Van Jones' radicalism, some in the conservative community say that shows Fox is the mainstream media and the other broadcast outlets are the fringe. The numbers certainly point to that.
Fox News regularly beats its cable news competitors. Glenn Beck’s show on Fox (which heavily covered the Van Jones story) recently saw its audience exceed 3 million viewers – and that is for a show that airs at 5 p.m. EST when most viewers are still at work.
Beck repeatedly draws more viewers than all his cable news competitors combined. Keith Olbermann of MSNBC was so outraged by Beck’s coverage of Van Jones’ past that Olbermann put out a plea to readers of the liberal Daily Kos blog to dig up dirt on Glenn Beck, his producer, and Fox News President Roger Ailes. I guess when Olbermann’s attempt to claim Fox News was not the top rated cable news channel because they were not a real news channel didn’t work, and since beating Fox in the ratings by actually reporting the news to viewers is not an option for the truth-challenged Olbermann and his colleagues at MSNBC, hoping to dig up some dirt on the competition must be the last, best option.
Refusing to report news about the background of a man in charge of billions of taxpayer dollars was bad, and made even worse since that news was already appearing all over the internet and on the highest rated cable news channel in the country. But when leading cable news pseudo-journalists like Olbermann, and even respected news legends like Tom Brokaw, attacked those who dared to tell the truth about Jones’ past, they furthered the idea that Fox is the mainstream and they are the fringe.
Fox News, talk radio and internet news sources are not just in competition with CNN and MSNBC. They are still vastly outnumbered by not only national newspapers and network news, but also even some content that appears in non-news programming. In that respect, Fox and alternative media are still in the minority, but a trend is growing at record speed. That trend is for those seeking news to head to sources like Fox News, talk radio and the internet. That would make those sources the mainstream. It almost boggles the mind. Conservative thought has always been the mainstream. Maybe the country’s choice of where they get their news is finally following.
The MSM is an offensive line that can’t keep the new media out of their backfield.
Fox should do a lot more detailed exposes on the backgrounds of the liberal media and their spokes persons
.. following their money and agendas...They have hidden by
the mainstream cloak for too many years and it is time to show they have no clothes.....
Imagine, major media figures attack another news network for reporting the truth about an administration hiree. Unbelievable. Does anyone with half a brain believe if it had been Bush hiring someone with a highly disreputable past, the media would be attacking FOX?
For starters how about Van Being a card carrying communist.
What's the matter, cant say the word “Communist” on TV?.
The one that irks me the most is Van Jones association with
cop killer and Black Panther Party member Mumia abu-Jamal (aka Wesley Cook).
Van Jones recently made a hate-filled anti-white, anti-American, anti-Israeli recording http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2334421/posts?page=9#9 staring Mumia.
Here are a few lines of it:
"The American way, manufactured by these white folks in office. By these rich men here to mock us. The United
States is a stolen land led by right-wing, war hungry, oil thirsty. And when it's all said and done they still can't
clean their own place because they got people of color playing servant to do that sh*t for them... The trueHere are a few of the lines
terrorists are made in the US, in this police state... The US is a crack-fiend for oil. And they're ready to rape,
kill, assault, rob anybody and everybody...
Bombing babies in the night. Two wrongs don't make a right... The US needs to exit its colonies in Iraq, in the
region and finally in Israel.
Van Jones: At this point. The end of the occupation. The
right of return of the Palestinian people. These are critical dividing lines in human rights. We have to be
here. No American would put up with an Israeli-style occupation of their hometown for 53 days let alone 54
years. US tax dollars are funding violence against people of color inside the US borders and outside the US borders."
Van Jones was arrested at a rally he held for Mumia Abu-Jamal.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1999/10/09/MN91787.DTL
"Supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a death row inmate convicted for the 1981 shooting death of a Philadelphia police officer, said the protest was called after the Supreme Court on Monday rejected claims that Abu-Jamal, a former radio journalist and Black Panther, did not receive a fair trial. ``We knew there was another event going on, but the timing of the court decision is what dictated when the protest was held,'' said Van Jones, a San Francisco civil rights lawyer who helped coordinate the protest march."
In case folks don't remember Mumia (aka Wesley Cook) is a convicted cop killer that shot Philadelphia Police officer Daniel Faulkner in the back during a routine traffic stop.
Cook shot Officer Faulkner in the back. As Officer Faulkner fell to the ground, he was able to turn around, reach for his own firearm, and fire at Mumia, striking him in the chest. Mumia, now standing over Officer Faulkner, fired four shots at close range. One shot struck Officer Faulkner between the eyes and entered his brain.
Outside of Glenn Beck (who is called a radical nut for telling the truth) Even Fox failed to mention this. Why the SUGAR COATING????
San Francisco lawyer... nothing else needs to be said... it means traitorous scum...
We are the mammals. They are the dinosaurs.
On December 9, 1981, at approximately 3:55 a.m., Officer
Danny Faulkner, a five year veteran of the Philadelphia
Police Department, made a traffic stop at Locust Street near Twelfth Street. The car stopped by Officer
Faulkner was being driven by William Cook. After making the
stop, Danny called for assistance on his police radio and requested a police wagon to transport a prisoner.
Unbeknownst to him, William Cook's brother, Wesley (aka Mumia Abu-Jamal) was across the street. As Danny attempted
to handcuff William Cook, Mumia Abu-Jamal ran from across the street and shot the officer in the back. Danny turned
and was able to fire one shot that struck Abu-Jamal in the chest; the wounded officer then fell to the pavement. Mumia
Abu-Jamal stood over the downed officer and shot him four more times at close range, once directly in the face. Mumia
Abu-Jamal was found still at the scene of the shooting by officers who arrived there within seconds. The murderer was
slumped against the curb in front of his brother's car. In his possession was a .38 caliber revolver that records
showed Mumia had purchased months earlier. The chamber of the gun had five spent cartridges. A cab driver, as well as
other pedestrians, had witnessed the brutal slaying and identified Mumia Abu-Jamal as the killer both at the scene
and during his trial. On July 2, 1982, after being tried before a jury of ten whites and two blacks, Mumia Abu-Jamal
was convicted of murdering Officer Danny Faulkner. The next day, the jury sentenced him to death after deliberating for
two hours. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania heard the defendant's appeals and upheld the conviction on March 6, 1989.
http://www.danielfaulkner.com/
April 06, 2009 High court (Supreme Court) lets (Mumia) Abu-Jamal's conviction stand
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2223297/posts
The mainstream media
just ain’t who they used to be!
ain’t who they used to be
ain’t who they used to be
The mainstream media
just ain’t who they used to be!
The People don’t belive them any more!
There is a site on line where “journalist” can “vent”, that is express their anger at what is happening to their jobs, their industry and their life.
When I first found the site it was wide open so I posted thoughts on why “Jounalism” in general and newspapers in particular are failing.
You never heard such hate come back at me. First, they deny they are biased. They honestly belive they are the main stream.
They blame the “interenet” for “stealing” their product and not paying for it. If it was not for the internet, we would be back in the 1930s and 40s when newspapers were at the height of their power.
The truth is, none of them really understood the business they were in. In fact, most did not even consider it a business (they were actually complaining that advertising got in the way).
I attempted to hold a discussion with them but they did not want to hear it and complained about the “trolls” invading their site. They have it blocked so not just anyone can post comments
If you want to go look at how miserable journalist are feeling right now, go to angryjournalist.com .
When you read about the low pay, the bad working conditions, the long hours you have to ask yourself why do they do it? Because to them it is not a job, it is a calling. They are out to save the world from nasty right wing wackos like us.
The left is incapable of discussing anything. All they are interested is to attack and call names.
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