Stop the Presses

Hannity, O’Reilly, Limbaugh, and the rest of the right leaning commentators in the media love protesting the Liberal media and its dominance in the press and over the airwaves. This always amuses me since they are part of the media and must be part of the calculation to determine the media is liberal. Also interesting is the criterion used in determining what qualifies as liberal.

A pet phrase of the conservatives over the past 25 years has been “the liberal media” when referring to any coverage they did not like. The New York Times, LA Times and the Washington Post have been their favorite targets and branded as the “Liberal media elite”. However, any comparison of the so called liberal media with media outlets deemed acceptable by the right wing demonstrates that the main difference is that those labeled as liberal are guilty of covering both sides of an argument. They also have the audacity to include liberal viewpoints along with conservative columns on their editorial pages.

The conservative assault on the liberal media has been a disciplined and long term effort that is now paying dividends in a big way. Either through intimidation by the right, or by corporate influence of the mega-businesses that have acquired the major media companies, news organizations have shown reluctance to cover stories that might leave them open to further ridicule. All of the news outlets, cable and networks, now invite far more conservatives than liberals to discussion panels or to supply political analyses. Press releases from the White House and from Congress are reported uncritically and often with little editing and minimum if any research to corroborate the information supplied.

This environment, created by conservative effort to suppress news that is not to their liking, enabled the abuse of trust introduced by the Bush administration in the form of fake news stories using fake reporters, but aired without informing viewers of the source or the story or who was paying for them.

The most telling example of the conservative take-over of the media is the comparison between news coverage of the Clinton and Bush administrations. You will recall that for nearly eight straight years, every lead, rumor, and unconfirmed hearsay tidbit was headlined by the press. A special prosecutor, Ken Starr, was assigned to investigate the Clintons, but after $80 million and years of investigating not one charge could be proven against them. Had it not been for Clinton’s own indiscretion with that intern, the Republicans would have never been able to foist the circus they called impeachment upon the public. Yet, there is a plethora of evidence to show Bush lied to the American people to garner support for a war with Iraq but, more criminally he lied to Congress and submitted a signed letter to congressional leaders justifying his invasion of Iraq based on these very lies.

Congress has not seen fit to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate these much more serious charges and the reason for that is that the Congress is in the hands of the Republican Party and is in lock-step with their despotic leader. Bush and his accomplices have ridden to power on the torrent of corporate donations which they secured through quid pro quo arrangements with the corporate raiders who want maximum influence in government, exoneration from prosecution for wrong doing and greater profits. This last item is not just greedy but absolutely frightening. Corporations are raking in record profits thanks to Bush’s willingness to sacrifice individuals’ safety and legal rights but, also by encouraging big business to view federal tax revenues as a source of untapped wealth that is theirs for the taking.