ACHTUNG: The following is not a “fair and balanced” story. It is an editorial by the editor. The first installment was published in January 2015 and is updated here:
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 40 years and having been accused all my life of being liberal, I think I know something about both.
The “liberal media” is an oxymoron, 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.
Even “friends” such as Ranger Rick and Army Bob advance this misguided notion. Army Bob insisted this week that media attack dogs will waste little time going after President-elect Donald Trump.
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, which neither Rick nor Bob seem to have a problem with, 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 59 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 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.
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.
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.
My superiors at J-Ad Graphics for many years published 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, on why Michael Moore was a bad man.
The “liberal media” was conspicuous by its absence in recent 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.
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 like all Trump all the time was being presented. Journalism 101 teaches that bad publicity is far better than no publicity. If you are ignored, like Sanders and Occupy Wall Street were for so long, like the Native Americans 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 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.
Denial is not a river in Egypt; to prove the media is liberal all you need to do is look in a mirror. The term is liberal, not off the chart Marxist; it is left of center, not falling off the left side of the Earth.
To prejudge people is wrong unless you do it? Military folks are not intelligent? You good folks in the media continue to maintain a god complex.
I worked for a general who had two PhDs; most three star Generals have a PhD from Harvard in international relations. Just what is the area of study is your PhD in? Most Majors and above have a master’s degree; what is the area of study for your master’s degree?
Per you folks on the left, prejudice is good if you do it, if the prejudice is the politically correct prejudice.
Please get over it; we are a free market Democracy, not a National Socialist Dictatorship.
I know you’re not ignorant, but in this case, you may have picked up the ignorance gene when explaining your position regarding “liberal media”
The companies and your work experiences illustrate one thing – business is in business to make money – corporations hire and fire based on ratings and the bottom line – nothing more, nothing less. If it made sense to waiver between liberal and conservative to make money, they would and will do it. And many do – Disney, Viacom, and Time Warner are not blushing violets when espousing liberal bending ideas. Your employer in Hastings, just like the Wayland Globe (both conservative serving conservative readership), entertained advertisers to their publications – it was and is their lifeblood (and how you got paid). You didn’t like their way of doing business so you left or were asked to leave – regardless, if you won’t “play ball” when your employers ask you to do so, expect nothing short of what you received. You are in their employ, and an “at will” employee.
If you can’t discern the overwhelming liberal bias in the media, maybe you ought to not comment there is none, because your rose-colored liberal glasses are working extremely well.