Posted on 04/10/2010 6:26:25 AM PDT by Kaslin
While many Americans believe the national press is biased toward the left, a more damning charge is now being debated: Are U.S. media outlets actually corrupt? Those who believe they are point to the cheerleading of Barack Obama's presidential campaign and to the recent reportage on the Tea Party movement.
As you may know, the Tea Party people have been branded in some media quarters as a bunch of racist, far-right loons. TV commentators on MSNBC and CNN have actually called the Tea Party folks dirty names on the air -- all in an attempt to diminish the growing influence of the movement.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the gutter. Regular Americans have apparently opted to decide for themselves about the Tea Party, and the polling is interesting. Despite all the rhetorical madness on TV, a new Gallup poll says 28 percent of Americans support the movement, 26 percent oppose it and 38 percent have not yet formed an opinion about support or opposition. Thus, there is a persuadable factor in play, and that is what the liberal media fear the most.
This time last year, there was no Tea Party. Now, it is perhaps the most vibrant political force in the country. If millions more Americans sign on, liberalism will take a huge hit. By the way, Gallup also reports that the Tea Party movement breaks down this way: 49 percent Republican, 43 percent Independent and 8 percent Democratic. The issue that binds the Tea Party folks together is fear of big government.
When the Founding Fathers granted the press privileges beyond those of everyday citizens, they did so with some trepidation. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, opposites in political thinking, both loathed the early press in America because it often operated irresponsibly; that is, it was not unusual for money to change hands in the production of a news story.
But Jefferson, Adams and their peers understood that the people needed information in order to make informed decisions at the voting booth. Therefore, the greater good was served by allowing a free press in the hope that the honest journalists would outnumber the dishonest ones.
Today, we have a problem in America. Entire news operations are devoting themselves not to reporting events honestly, but to promoting a certain ideology or party. The Fox News Channel, where I work, has been accused of this. But a study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs found that FNC's coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign was tough on both candidates, while most other news networks blatantly favored Obama.
Now we have a systematic media campaign to demean the Tea Party movement. At first, organizations like The New York Times ignored the movement. Then they mocked it. Neither worked. As the rallies grew larger, the liberal press got meaner. There was little reporting being done -- it was all about bashing.
This isn't bias; it's corruption. News organizations are supposed to be watchdogs, not attack dogs. The Tea Party should be scrutinized like every other political movement. But that's not what's going on here. A large part of the national media is out to destroy these folks. And that's flat-out wrong.
This article proves that the Media still do not “get it” about the so-called “Tea Party”. There is no “Tea Party” per se, rather, people of like mind and concern about the direction our Country is taking are coming together at Tea Parties, but the movement is not a political party unto itself, at least not yet.
But that is another misconception the media is pushing, denouncing the Tea Party as some sort of third political party, which I don’t think it is. The Tea Party movement in my view is more of a way to focus people on what we need to do to purge, reform and refocus the Republican Party.
People attending Tea Parties are focusing their attention on the Constitution, clearly identifying RINOs, and are motivating a lot of young Americans to jump in to politics even locally, and giving them a firm Constitutional footing to build a proper campaign on.
Done correctly, I think it is possible to have a majority of Freshmen in both houses of Congress next year that clearly understand their responsibilities under the Constitution, which is what we desperately need, and what I think the Tea Parties are providing the guidance for.
While what you say is true, it is all legal. If legal it is not corrupt.
Does ten pounds of flour make a really big biscuit?
Yours is one of the best posts I have read this year.
Wait until he gets a few of the major Tea Party people on his show, he will rip them to shreds and try to embarrass them
Never, ever forget, BOR has one and only one priority: BOR
Do you not believe that what is grossly immoral can also be described as corrupt? That stating something when you know something else to be true, and doing so for an unstated political goal, is not corrupt?
Methinks your definition of "corrupt" is far too narrow.
The media is both self serving AND corrupt. Corrupt beyond description.
Yes, of course it is, but I don’t think that the lower level reporters are as ideologically driven as the editors and news directors are, stupid ,yes, ignorant of history,yes, but how much of that can be attributed to public schools and teachers unions and chronic liberalism in collages.
The other major way their bias shows through is the lack of reporting of major news. Climategate is a perfect example of this.
One can be corrupt without breaking a law. Corruption typically refers to actions that conflict with morals, ethic, or understood proper codes of behavior. If members of the press, on one hand, espouse fairness, objectivity, non-bias, etc., but, on the other, act in completely opposite ways, they can be considered corrupt.
People can only make decisions on what they know. Control their information flow, and you control them.
“Is the American Press Corrupt?”
Do strippers take off their clothes?
Does it get very warm in Death Valley?
Is moonshine high-octane liquor?
Are Democrats psychotic?
Is the current crop of “journalists” a group of goose-stepping, visceral, hateful, partisan leftists?
IMHO
In my humble opinion the biggest sin of Big Lib Media is not what they aired or printed, but what they didn’t air or print. BLM has always been guilty of hiding or minimalizing important facts and stories to fit their Big-Government-Is-Great agenda. But I have to congratulate my local lib rag for putting the news about the failure of fifty percent of the population to pay fed income taxes on the front page Friday. It’s very odd that my paper does that considering they never print any dissenting facts or opinions concerning global warming.
Are you saying that only what is illegal can be corrupt?Are you saying that only what is illegal can be corrupt?
“Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, opposites in political thinking, both loathed the early press in America because it often operated irresponsibly; that is, it was not unusual for money to change hands in the production of a news story.”
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GE owns NBC. GE/NBC get 4.3 billion in stimulus money from Obama. Obama is defended, promoted, while ANYONE who is opposed to his policies are political targets. Money is still changing hands as in Jefferson/Adams time. They will not report their own sins and are leading the sheep following Obama to believe he is the only one honest.
Yes, we have Fox, but that is only one station. Many people don’t have cable, only ABC, CBS & NBC. They aren’t getting any of the truth.
I’m sure the democrats are doing many unlawful things (bribes, lying under oath (what is in health care) stealing money from the American people. We NEED true patriots in the media to expose Obama. They only want to promote him.
I do find peace in the fact that: God knows all, sees all and will judge all.
The press is completely corrupt, through and through. I don't care if they're ideologues who believe in their leftist cause, they know full well that they have covered up the truth, and promoted lies about Obama, and that they did the same, in reverse, about President Bush.
They are corrupt as sin, and will be punished for it.
And I agree about finding peace in God alone. If I didn't have the Lord at this time, I would be in a state of panic. Whatever lies ahead, we are in His hands, and He will see us through.
Wait, Bill O’Reilly is asking this? LOL
A journalist is a hemorroid on the ass of a snake.
Is the American Press Corrupt?YES and going broke for being so.
Does Howdy Doody have a wooden dick?
Is that a rhetorical question? Of course it is tremendously corrupt, self-aggrandizing, self-important, so socialist it makes Marx look centrist...
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