EDITOR’S NOTE: I published this editorial on Townbroadcast four years ago. Given recent developments and a slew of comments I’ve seen on Facebook for quite some time, I feel compelled to have it passed along again, with minor revisions. Don’t forget: This is not a “fair and balanced” article, it is an editorial.
One of my pet peeves over the last 20 years has been the continued assertion that the media is liberal. Having worked in the media for more than 45 years and having been accused all my life of being liberal, I think I know something about both.
The “liberal media” is an oxymoron, just like jumbo shrimp or the cruel joke about “military intelligence.” It’s a dirty and lazy lie repeated virtually every day by right-wingers trying to discredit those who do not share their views. Their assertion is not founded on reason, or for that matter, truth.
Let’s examine those corporately owned mainstream broadcast media:
- NBC is owned by General Electric.
- CBS is owned by Viacom.
- ABC is owned by Disney.
- CNN is owned by Time-Warner.
- Fox News is owned by notorious right-wing mogul Rupert Murdoch and formerly managed by former Republican strategist Roger Ailes. Its star-studded lineup of “news persons” is about as far away from liberal as the Detroit Lions have been from the Super Bowl for the last 63 years.
Corporations are not liberal. They take care of the bottom line, money, often with strong ties to conservative causes. And when corporate media editors and reporters step out of line, they lose their jobs. Just ask Bill Maher. Just Ask Phil Donohue. Just ask Dan Rather. Just ask Keith Olbermann. Just ask me.
MSNBC is liberal, though corporately owned, but its sole purpose seems to be as a foil to Fox News. Yet even MSNBC doesn’t have the guts to let Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Amy Goodman, Chris Hedges and other eloquent progressives visit their shows to discuss issues. Chomsky was banned from any inclusion on NPR and PBS.
Furthermore, MSNBC seems to be welcoming with open arms the “Never Trump” former Republican operatives, such as Nicole Wallace and Steve Schmidt, who actually are still Republicans.
It grinds me that Fox News hypes itself with “fair and balanced” and “we report, you decide.” Those who cannot see through its right-wing agenda aren’t thinking critically. It has been serving as the public relations propagandist public relations machine for Donald Trump.
As for the print media, it is dying. I was in that game for a long time, and was marginalized even by colleagues. I learned a long time ago that reporters and editors too often do the bidding of advertisers, those who have money or are well connected. For example my superiors at J-Ad Graphics for many years published gratis a weekly column by very conservative State Senator Jack Welborn, but refused to provide a similar opportunity by anyone with different views.
Retired Grand Rapids Press editor Mike Lloyd was such good friends with Dick DeVos that the latter gave the eulogy for Mrs. Lloyd at her funeral. Editorial page editor Joe Crawford was a huge friend of conservative business mogul Peter Secchia.
The Press went out of its way one time to paint an unfavorable picture of activist film maker Michael Moore when he spoke at Fountain Street Church in 2004. The Press “story” mentioned almost nothing about what Moore said, derisively described his attire and extensively quoted Dick DeVos’ wife, Betsy, about why Michael Moore was a bad man.
The “liberal media” was conspicuous by its absence in developments such as Occupy Wall Street, the Standing Rock Native American protests against the pipeline and it was very slow to pick up on the enthusiasm of the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign. Even worse, “liberal” media outlets such as MSNBC rarely have allowed Sanders and firebrand Congresswoman Alexandria Occasio-Cortez on its programs (even Rachel Maddow).
Bill Moyers, a good example of liberal media, produced an informative documentary, ”Buying the War: How the Big Media Failed Us,” showing how network news and print journalists served as cheerleaders for the war in Iraq in 2003, even ignoring or playing down the largest world-wide protest in history.
It is true that much media coverage of Donald Trump was negative, but the Donald skillfully manipulated broadcast media to the point that it seemed as though all Trump all the time was being presented in 2016 and since. Journalism 101 teaches that bad publicity is far better than no publicity. If you are ignored and excoriated, like Sanders, AOC and Occupy Wall Street were for so long, like the Native Americans and Black Lives Matter are now, you don’t have a seat at the table, you’re persona non grata.
And don’t forget the influence of “right-thinking radio” with Rush Limbaugh and Company, Sinclair Broadcasting (Channel 3) and Clear Channel Radio.
Right-wing bias is not a crime. But continuing to insist the media is liberal is like peeing on my shoes and telling me it’s raining.
Same old song and still out of tune.
NBC is now owned by Comcast, liberal/conservative is in the eye of the beholder. A good example is a liberal from New York telling me Mother Jones is a good fair news source.