Liberal Media the Big Loser
Ventura Star, December 19, 2004
By Terry Paulson, PhD

The biggest loser in this election may very well be mainstream liberal media. Andy Rooney ended a recent 60 Minutes commentary with a telling but humorous admission: “I know a lot of you believe that most people in the news business are liberal. Let me tell you, I know a lot of them, and they were almost evenly divided this time. Half of them liked Senator Kerry; the other half hated President Bush.”

In an interview in the Columbia Journalism Review, Tom Brokaw suggested that there is no liberal media bias, and then asserted that liberal bias is an "obligation" of journalism. Journalists should "represent the views of those who are underrepresented in the social context, or the political context,…and that their wrongs get the bright light of journalistic sunshine." Tom can’t see the bias, but it is OK to have one if you do.

A Media Research Center study of comments by reporters at ABC, CBS and NBC between 1997 and 2001 found that reporters used the "conservative" tag four times more often than the "liberal" label to define politicians, interest groups and policy positions. To these reporters, anyone right of center is conservative; anyone left of center is middle of the road.

The bias is not limited to mainstream TV. New York Times reporter John Tierney did an informal survey of 153 journalists at the Democratic convention in Boston. "When asked who would be a better President," Tierney reported, "the journalists from outside the Beltway picked Mr. Kerry 3 to 1, and the ones from Washington favored him 12 to 1."

They don’t see their own bias, but fortunately Americans do. An October poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press discovered that "half of voters (50 percent) say most newspaper and TV reporters would prefer to see John Kerry win the election, compared with just 22 percent who think that most journalists are pulling for George Bush."

Whether they are theorizing over Bush’s debate “bulge,” promoting fears of a “phantom” military draft, spinning news of a good economy into bad news, or berating or ignoring “unsubstantiated” reports from multiple Swift boat veterans while plugging undocumented Bush “AWOL” National Guard smears, the liberal bias just keeps shining through.

Kate O'Beirne with National Review provided a damning commentary on CNN: "This election season, a foul should be called on the ref. To an unprecedented degree, the establishment media has taken sides in the presidential race. Campaign coverage has been transparently hostile to President Bush. Bogus news is hyped and facts nitpicked in the hope of damaging the President, while John Kerry's record, distortions and wild charges are largely ignored. This year, the media voted early and its claims of impartiality are an obvious fraud."

But it is the Dan Rather’s forgery fiasco and continuing “Document-Gate” that has showed America how far mainstream media will go to provide any “evidence” that will support what they want to say. So in honor of his role in the loss of trust in mainstream media and his stepping down as the anchor of CBS Evening News, let me end this column with a few Ratherisms you won’t hear from Dan Rather’s farewell address:

”Smelling salts please! We network anchors have been in a ding-dong, knock-down, get-up fight for our lives. Our backs have been to the wall, our shirt tails are still on fire and it's getting hotter. My own forged documents flap is still hotter than a Laredo parking lot, as hot and squalid as a New York elevator in August, hot enough to peel house paint. But never forget that to err is human but to really foul up takes a liberal anchor. The sudden ratings drop got me standing up like I got stuck with hat pins and saying-"I'm sorry!" Now, don't hold your breath for a real apology to George Bush. I think you would likelier see a hippopotamus run through this room than see any of us anchors apologize to George Bush! Now, Brokaw and I are both retiring. Like Nixon, I’m resigning early because the odds of me lasting another year were as tight as a too-small bathing suit on a too-long ride home from the beach. It's was tight as the rusted lug nuts on a '55 Ford. But don't worry about us liberal anchors! When it comes to making sure that liberal bias rules the airwaves, I’m a long distance runner and all-day hunter. No one may be watching, but I’m still not going away from 60 Minutes!”

So don’t hold your breath for more balance from the mainstream media. The liberal media is now working overtime to prove that 60 million Americans were stupid to reelect Bush. Do what more Americans are doing—turn off the evening news spin machine and start having more political conversations across our divide about the issues and values that matter most. We may start to respect our differences and even find some common ground.

Terry Paulson, Ph.D., from Agoura Hills, CA, is a professional speaker on making change work and author of The Dinner: The Political Conversation Your Mother Told You Never to Have