Nobody Here But Us Apolitical Observers Award for Denying Liberal Bias (Plus MORE Awards!!!)

Media Research Center ^ | December 27, 2001

[PJ-Comix]

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 Nobody Here But Us Apolitical Observers Award for Denying Liberal Bias

First Place

Newsweek’s Evan Thomas: "There is a perception, even among journalists, that the [New York] Times is going a little bit left, is getting more liberal, and that’s disquieting."
Time magazine’s Jack White: "That’s a lot of hokum, with all due respect to Evan. There is no liberal bias in the press in the whole. In fact, if there is a bias, it’s on the other side. It’s hard to find a person really, truly, of the liberal persuasion who are making any important decisions in any important media institutions in this country now. I’ve looked for them, I consider myself one, I have very few birds of a like feather around."
– Exchange on the September 1 Inside Washington. [56 points]

Runners-up:

Diane Sawyer: "Watching you and watching you cover the news over the past year, you are so much about passion for politics, and it doesn’t matter to you, I mean – I really mean this." George Stephanopoulos: "Thank you." Sawyer: "You’ve been completely non-partisan in covering the news." – Exchange on ABC’s Good Morning America, July 24. [54]

"The New York Times is middle of the road. There is no active, aggressive, important publication of the left in America. And so as a consequence, The New York Times when compared to The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page may be considered to the left of it. But to call The New York Times left-wing is absurd."
– Norman Pearlstine, Editor-in-Chief of Time-Warner magazines, on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal on May 24, responding to former CBS reporter Bernard Goldberg’s point that Dan Rather’s belief that the Times’ editorial page was merely "middle of the road" showed Rather’s cluelessness on the issue of liberal media bias. [50]

"I think there is a mainstream media. CNN is mainstream media, and the main, ABC, CBS, NBC are mainstream media. And I think it’s just essentially to make the point that we are largely in the center without particular axes to grind, without ideologies which are represented in our daily coverage, at least certainly not on purpose."
– Peter Jennings, CNN’s Larry King Live, May 15. [40]

 

Blame America First Award

First Place

"Am I angry? You bet I am. I am an American citizen, and my leaders have taken my money to fund mass murder. And now my friends have paid the price with their lives.
"Keep crying, Mr. Bush. Keep running to Omaha or wherever it is you go while others die, just as you ran during Vietnam while claiming to be ‘on duty’ in the Air National Guard. Nine boys from my high school died in that miserable war. And now you are asking for ‘unity’ so you can start another one? Do not insult me or my country like this!
"Yes, I, too, will be in church at noon today, on this national day of mourning. I will pray for you, and us, and the children of New York, and the children of this sad and ugly world."
– Message posted by left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore on his Web site, September 14. [54 points]

Runners-up:

"We have been the cowards. Lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away, that’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, not cowardly." – ABC’s Bill Maher on Politically Incorrect, Sept. 17. [52]

"My daughter, who goes to Stuyvesant High School only blocks from the World Trade Center, thinks we should fly an American flag out our window. Definitely not, I say: The flag stands for jingoism and vengeance and war. She tells me I’m wrong – the flag means standing together and honoring the dead and saying no to terrorism. In a way we’re both right....[The flag] has to bear a wide range of meanings, from simple, dignified sorrow to the violent anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bigotry that has already resulted in murder, vandalism and arson around the country and harassment on New York City streets and campuses."
– The Nation’s Katha Pollitt in an Oct. 8 column. [43]

"I do not believe the memory of the 7,000 plus people who were killed in these most horrendous acts of terrorism are honored by going out and killing other civilians. We went alone, we went alone when we bombed Tripoli at night, a crowded city where old people and children were sleeping. 1986, Reagan. We killed Qaddafi’s kid, and lots of other children. One person said, well, several people, ‘well, he’s adopted’ they said of the kid. And we got Pan Am 103, Lockerbie. Tell those loved ones, it was December 21, my birthday."
– Phil Donahue on FNC’s The O’Reilly Factor, Sept. 25. [37]

"The disconnect between last Tuesday’s monstrous dose of reality and the self-righteous drivel and outright deceptions being peddled by public figures and TV commentators is startling, depressing. The voices licensed to follow the event seem to have joined together in a campaign to infantilize the public. Where is the acknowledgment that this was not a ‘cowardly’ attack on ‘civilization’ or ‘liberty’ or ‘humanity’ or ‘the free world’ but an attack on the world’s self-proclaimed superpower, undertaken as a consequence of specific American alliances and actions? How many citizens are aware of the ongoing American bombing of Iraq? And if the word ‘cowardly’ is to be used, it might be more aptly applied to those who kill from beyond the range of retaliation, high in the sky, than to those willing to die themselves in order to kill others. In the matter of courage (a morally neutral virtue): whatever may be said of the perpetrators of Tuesday’s slaughter, they were not cowards."
– Novelist and playwright Susan Sontag writing for the "Talk of the Town" section of the Sept. 24 New Yorker. [28]

 

Glimpses of Patriotism Award

First Place

"For once, let’s have no ‘grief counselors’ standing by with banal consolations, as if the purpose, in the midst of all this, were merely to make everyone feel better as quickly as possible. We shouldn’t feel better. For once, let’s have no fatuous rhetoric about ‘healing.’ Healing is inappropriate now, and dangerous. There will be time later for the tears of sorrow. A day cannot live in infamy without the nourishment of rage. Let’s have rage....
"As the bodies are counted, into the thousands and thousands, hatred will not, I think, be a difficult emotion to summon. Is the medicine too strong? Call it, rather, a wholesome and intelligent enmity....Anyone who does not loathe the people who did these things, and the people who cheer them on, is too philosophical for decent company....The worst times, as we see, separate the civilized of the world from the uncivilized. This is the moment of clarity. Let the civilized toughen up, and let the uncivilized take their chances in the game they started."
– Lance Morrow in a special edition of Time published after the September 11 terrorist attacks. [67 points]

Runners-up:

"The United States had a spirit before it had a name – one of faith and freedom, of ambition tempered by piety. We once were a nation of neighbors and friends, we are again today. We once were a nation of hardship-tested dreamers – we are again today. We once were a nation under God – we are again today. Our enemies attacked one nation, they will encounter another, for they underestimated us. Today in our grief and in our rage, our determination and hope, we’ve summoned what’s best and noblest in us. We are again Americans."
– Tony Snow at the conclusion of the September 16 Fox News Sunday. [54]

"I have spent this week wiping my eyes and grinding my teeth and wondering why. I’ve drawn strength from a story about a man I knew, Father Mychal Judge. The chaplain of the New York City Fire Department, a Franciscan, he raced to the World Trade Center after the explosion to comfort the injured. While administering the last rites to a dying rescue worker, he, himself, was killed by flying debris. New York’s bravest physically carried Father Mike away....
Together, firemen, priests, and brothers wept and sang the prayer of St. Francis, `May the Lord bless and keep you and show his face to you and have mercy on you.’ That is the way of New York. That is the spirit of America."
– Tim Russert, moderator of NBC’s Meet the Press, concluding the September 16 show. [30]

 

Too Late for the Ballot, But Year End "Best of NQ" Worthy:

Persecuting Clinton Allowed 9/11

"It was a huge national distraction, going after a guy who lied about getting oral sex from a woman he wasn’t married to, and I think I know a million guys who get oral sex from a woman they weren’t married to....All of us have a shared guilt right now, and the shared guilt is for the last ten years we have been horribly distracted. I would bet you that I can find you 4,000, 5,000 FBI agents who wish to God they weren’t assigned to Whitewater, Monicagate, Bill Clinton – that instead they were on the trail of Osama bin Laden and the people who were plotting mass murder against us."
– Geraldo Rivera on the Nov. 15 O’Reilly Factor on FNC.

Homegrown Few = Al Qaeda

"Since September 11, the word ‘terrorist’ has come to mean someone who is radical, Islamic and foreign. But many believe we have as much to fear from a home-grown group of anti-abortion crusaders."
– Reporter Jami Floyd on ABC’s 20/20, November 28.

[PJ-Comix]

If you haven't died from laughing yet, congratulations. This is the last group of Media Bias Awards from the Media Research Center. Oh, and thanx to the Media Research Center for researching and presenting these highly entertaining awards cataloging media bias. And now meet the judges:

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 2001 Award Judges

Chuck Asay, editorial cartoonist, The Gazette in Colorado Springs
Brent Baker, Editor of MRC’s CyberAlert and Notable Quotables
Mark Belling, talk show host, WISN in Milwaukee
L. Brent Bozell III, President of the Media Research Center
David Brudnoy, radio talk show host, WBZ in Boston; journalism professor at Boston University
Priscilla Buckley, Contributing Editor of National Review
Mark Davis, talk show host, ABC Radio and WBAP in Dallas-Ft. Worth; columnist, Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
Midge Decter, author; Trustee for the Heritage Foundation
Jim Eason, KSFO in San Francisco talk show host, emeritus
Barry Farber, radio talk show host
Eric Fettmann, columnist and Associate Editorial Page Editor, New York Post
David Gold, syndicated radio talk show host
Tim Graham, White House correspondent, World magazine
Stephen Hayes, staff writer for The Weekly Standard
Kirk Healy, Executive Producer, WDBO Radio in Orlando
Quin Hillyer, editorial writer, Mobile Register
Marie Kaigler, radio talk show host, Detroit
Cliff Kincaid, commentator
Mark Larson, talk show host and GM at KCBQ/KPRZ in San Diego
Jason Lewis, talk show host, KSTP in Minneapolis/St. Paul
Ross Mackenzie, Editor of the editorial page, Richmond Times-Dispatch
Tony Macrini, talk show host, WNIS in Norfolk, Virginia
Michelle Malkin, syndicated columnist and Fox News contributor
Patrick McGuigan, Editor of the editorial page, The Oklahoman
Jan Mickelson, talk show host, WHO Des Moines/WMT Cedar Rapids
Wes Minter, Operations Manager and talk host, KRMG in Tulsa
Jane Norris, talk show host, WHAS in Louisville
Rich Noyes, Director of Media Analysis for the Media Research Center
Marvin Olasky, Senior Fellow, Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty; Editor of World magazine
Janet Parshall, nationally syndicated radio talk show host
Henry Payne, editorial cartoonist, The Detroit News
Wladyslaw Pleszczynski, Distinguished Visting Fellow, Hoover Institution
Mike Rosen, talk show host, KOA in Denver; columnist, Denver Rocky Mountain News
Ted J. Smith III, Professor of journalism, Virginia Commonwealth U.
Philip Terzian, nationally syndicated columnist
Bruce Tinsley, Mallard Fillmore cartoonist
Cal Thomas, syndicated columnist; panelist on FNC’s Fox Newswatch
Armstrong Williams, nationally syndicated columnist
Dick Williams, columnist; host of Atlanta’s Georgia Gang
Walter Williams, Professor of economics, George Mason University
Thomas Winter, Editor-in-Chief of Human Events

[PJ-Comix]

If you go to the source page at the Media Research Center they also have lots of media bias videos upon which these awards are based that you can play.

[Budge]

Thank you for posting all the awards. Some made me laugh, some made me angry. And ol' Danny Blather's comments on the aftermath of the Florida election were priceless!

[PJ-Comix]

And thanx to the folks at the Media Research Center for researching these examples of bias and providing these entertaining awards. However, I just wish Brent Bozell would quit picking on Howard Stern. Hey, Brent, a lot of conservatives LOVE Howard's show so PLEASE lay off him!!!

[Budge]

By all means, thanks to MRC!

BTW, are you aware how Dan Blather got his big break in TV?

He was the weatherman for channel 11 in Houston when hurricane Carla hit in 1961. He was sent to the Galveston weather bureau to brodcast live from the bunker there. The Galveston/Houston area was about the center of this hugh storm. CBS was impressed that he put himself in the face of danger and hired him. It was reported that Walter Cronkite (also from the Houston area) hated Dan.

[Congressman Billybob]

Phil,

You should see this. And, my previous flag of Dr. Walter Williams piece on press bias should have been noted as RTSH.

Congressman Billybob

Click and bookmark for Billybob's weekday morning national commentaries.

[an amused spectator]

It’s hard to find a person really, truly, of the liberal persuasion who are making any important decisions in any important media institutions in this country now.

I guess that Kute Katie Kommie, the $13 million dollar woman, isn't of the "liberal persuasion". ;-)

[YaYa123]

I thank PJ too. This is eye-opening for all the liberal lurkers who don't dare admit bias exist in the media.

My favorite...."And I think it’s just essentially to make the point that we are largely in the center without particular axes to grind, without ideologies which are represented in our daily coverage, at least certainly not on purpose."
– Peter Jennings, CNN’s Larry King Live, May 15. "

This is the ultimate INTENTIONS Defense. Petah is speaking for ABC, CNN, NBC, and CBS, saying the network news bureaus might be biased, but they aren't that way on purpose, so it doesn't count against them. Does that even pass "the make sense test"?
More illogical thought from the left. If you don't intend a particular consequence, then you can't be held responsible for your action which caused it.
As in Jesse Jackson's defense of Clinton, delivered from a church pulpit: Clinton isn't guilty of adultry because he didn't intend to hurt his wife and daughter.

Remember what your Mama told you? "The road to hell is paved with good intentions"? We didn't know at the time, Jesse was repaving his own road to hell. A veritable super highway after 8 years of Clinton!

[Brian Allen]

..... Walter Cronkite -- also from the Houston area -- ..... and every bit as evil, as loathsome, as corrupt, as intellectually and morally bankrupt and moronic .....

[Brian Allen]

Thanks for the post.

But how frightening that such loathsome and fearsome scum, as [With a couple of notable exceptions!] are most of those quoted here, are afforded all of pencils and paper and domination to the various media -- renumeration -- for their evily-anti-American take on the world!

[Brian Allen]

Thanks for the post.

But how frightening that such loathsome and fearsome scum, as [With a couple of notable exceptions!] are most of those quoted here, are afforded all of pencils and paper and domination of the various media -- AND renumeration -- for their evily-anti-American take on the world!

[YaYa123]

I forgot the very best example of The INTENTIONS Defense.

Terry McAuliffe explaining that George Bush stole the election. He repeated, ad nausum, Al Gore won Florida because more voters INTENDED to vote for Gore.

Laughable, then and now.

[summer]

PJ, Thanks for posting this and flagging me. Really interesting. I especially enjoyed how Peter Jennings clarified his statement, below:

And I think it’s just essentially to make the point that we are largely in the center without particular axes to grind, without ideologies which are represented in our daily coverage, at least certainly not on purpose."
– Peter Jennings, CNN’s Larry King Live, May 15. [40]