[PJ-Comix]

I'm glad to see that Shelby Steele called the CNN interviewer to account for the labeling of him as a "conservative" while not giving a political label to Cohen who is a liberal. This is a common tactic on most media news---Label a conservative as such but decline to label a liberal as a liberal. What this does is instill in the viewer's (or reader's) mind that the conservative has a political agenda while the unlabeled liberal is an unbiased source without a poltical agenda. I only hope that more conservatives do as Shelby Steele has done and call any interviewers to account on this poltical labeling technique.

This report came to me via e-Mail but it will soon appear on the MRC.ORG website.

[backhoe]

The unspoken biases of "objective reporters" drives me nuts. Another thing I detest is how so few of them will admit to their political positions, despite blatant evidence that nearly all lean left.

Here are sources for Media bias:

-Media Research-free e-letter--

-Reed Irvine's Accuracy in Media--

-the Ben Franklin Foundation--

-Citizen's Coalition for Responsible Media--

[Anamensis]

"Okay, great. If I'm going to be (branded), everybody's going to be."

Good for him! This is exactly the kind of sneakiness we have to root out and expose. In one of my grad school courses, we had to read some cultural anthropologists bullsh** drivel about how science is merely another worldview, a Western construct. The article read, "whereas the scientist claims to explain the world as it 'really' is, the anthropologist studies the various ways in which..." and I made sure to point out to the prof the bias of this style. The scientist "claims" but the anthropologist "studies." And of course, the scare quotes around "really." (After all, there IS no objective reality, see? Although when you use that against them to say that their collectivist world-view is, then, no better than a capitalist one, they get very prune-faced.)

[randita]

What this does is instill in the viewer's (or reader's) mind that the conservative has a political agenda while the unlabeled liberal is an unbiased source without a poltical agenda.

Exactly. And it also leads an uninformed viewer to conclude that CNN actually gives conservatives lots of airtime, thus blunting the charges that CNN is biased to the left.

At least Shelby Steele is a true conservative. What fries me is when they have people like Tucker Carlson or Billy Kristol on and paint them as extreme right-wingers. They are moderates at best.

[PGalt]

Good post & points. The subtleties of the anti-freedom forces have to be exposed at the most fundamental levels...LANGUAGE...more specifically the LIE. Otherwise freedom lovers are left to fighting them at a later date when the stakes are much higher...witness BILL CLINTON or USAMA BIN LADEN or any other CRIMINAL throughout history. The CRIMINALS that hijacked the plane that TODD BEEMER was on...were lying to the passengers about their true intent. CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR BEGINS WITH CRIMINAL THINKING. It begins with a LIE. When OUR press ENABLE or become part of the CRIMINAL element through the subtlety exposed by Shelby Steele, they become co-conspirators.

[AD from SpringBay]

This is beautiful and this is what it's going to consistently take to help change things.

[bassmaner]

The unmitigated bias of mainstream media "news" is galling, but, unfortunately, the Left has set the paradigm and it is more subtle because it affects even the way we on the Right talk and think. Perhaps a slight revision of your comment is in order to illustrate this unfortunate fact:

I'm glad to see that Shelby Steele called the CNN interviewer to account for the labeling of him as a "conservative" while not giving a political label to Cohen who is a liberal leftist. This is a common tactic on most media news---Label a conservative as such but decline to label a liberal leftist as a liberal leftist. What this does is instill in the viewer's (or reader's) mind that the conservative has a political agenda while the unlabeled liberal leftist is an unbiased source without a poltical agenda. I only hope that more conservatives do as Shelby Steele has done and call any interviewers to account on this poltical labeling technique.

My point is that the Left has hijacked the term "liberal" to describe their totally un-liberal socialist agenda. America was founded as a "liberal" country in the true sense of the word. Madison, Jefferson, et al. were "liberals".

Let's make a point to avoid using the term "liberal", until we have restored its traditional meaning of individual freedom and liberty: the precepts upon which this country was founded and what made it great.

[tubebender]

Great Post. A couple more of confrontations like this and it may catch on. Is Shelby Steele the Historian or do I have him confused with some one else ?

[silmaril]

This isn't Aaron Brown's first transgression. A couple of months ago, he made a reference to "crackers" on a late-night CNN show. The statement was in reference to different types of terrorists -- Muslims versus "crackers" with bombs (a la McVeigh). I was surprised to hear him say this and, eager to hoist CNN on its PC petard, I sought out the section of its websites where the transcripts are posted. After several days, no transcript of this show was posted. I e-mailed CNN and got a canned reply; I e-mailed back and got no reply. The transcript is still not posted, and probably never will be.

The point is that Aaron Brown is, at heart, just another elite white leftist -- and from time to time, it slips out.

[L.N. Smithee]

dLabel a conservative as such but decline to label a liberal as a liberal. What this does is instill in the viewer's (or reader's) mind that the conservative has a political agenda while the unlabeled liberal is an unbiased source without a poltical agenda. I only hope that more conservatives do as Shelby Steele has done and call any interviewers to account on this poltical labeling technique.

This is one of the first things that Bernard Goldberg addresses in "Bias."

Aaron Brown has risen very quickly for no discernible reason. I remember not too long ago he was one of the anchors on ABC World News Now, the overnight headline show that fills in the gap between Politically Incorrect and Good Morning America. It's a loose, informal show, the anchors jibe with each other, and they have their own goofy theme song that makes fun of the corporate stiffs. I didn't know what a lefty he was until he started filling in for whoever would normally would fill in for whoever would normally fill in for Ted Koppel, and he would pull stuff like he almost did with Steele.

[Benrand]

Aaron Smith is one weeeird dude. He basically flops on the desk and he's got a bizarre lisp.

[daler]

Another tactic (in newspapers) is to place an ANALYSIS story on the front page. My guess is that many sheeple can't tell the difference between opinion and hard news.

I woke up to two ridiculous front-page headlines in my local paper (Duluth, Minn News-Tribune) this morning:

"Analysts say tax increases are better option than spending cuts for economic stimulus"

and

"On anniversary, many Russians regret collapse of the Soviet Union"

I'd post the content of the articles, but I presume that most of you, like me, aren't interested in going beyond the headline.

[blackbart1]

This is good news. I sure hope that the talk radio picks up on this and pounds the issue at least a little.

[doug from upland]

Gloria Allred loves to refer to people such as us as "the far right" but always labels herself as a "progressive." For too long, the left has been in charge of the language of the media. We should challenge bias every time it occurs. Good job by Steele.