“What Liberal Media?”

ERIC ALTERMAN

Debating the Media: Two Points of View

Two Prevailing Views of the Media“America’s argument about the media bias features just two points of view:

1) The Right: media is biased toward leftists. 2) Media is not Ideology

David Broder: “There just isn’t enough ideology in the average reporter to fill a thimble.” (1)

Debating the Media: Two Points of View

A Conservative Bias in the Media?“The idea that the media might, for reasons of ownership, economics…

actually be more sympathetic to conservative causes than to liberal ones is…simply beyond the pale.” (1)

A Liberal Media: A Useful Falsehood“Myth” of a liberal media is a useful falsehood.

It serves a (political) purpose. Most conservatives are aware that the media is not liberal. Nonetheless, they perpetuate the idea because it serves as a useful political device in combating liberals. (1)

Myth of the Liberal Media

Two Recent Examples of Rightwing Critiques of the Media

1) Ann Coulter (Slander, Treason, etc)2) Bernard Goldberg (Bias)

Right Critiques of the Media

Ann CoulterScholarship: Thin Footnotesa) Coulter’s scholarship is quite poor. In most of her works, her footnotes are rather thin. Alterman “counted exactly one work of history in Coulter’s copious footnotes.” (4)

Attack Politicsb) “The Greater [her] fame, the more malevolent grew her hysteria.” (p. 3) Coulter publicly attacks and defames prominent individuals who she considers too liberal on a routine basis. • Ex: In High Crimes and Misdemeanors, she discusses

“assassination” as one option among others for removing Clinton from office.

Right Critiques of the Media

Bernard Goldberg (pp. 5-9)

Argument Lacks Evidence: Goldberg fails to “systematically prove the existence of liberal bias in the news, or even define what he means by the term.” (6)

Right Critiques of the Media

Analyzing Golberg’s Evidence

People Leaving Liberal Networks: Voting with RemotesGoldberg’s believes that people have reacted to network’s clear liberal bias by “voting with their remote controls” and abandoning the networks for cable news programs.

Goldberg : “How else can we account for Bill O’Reilly’ and O’Reilly Factors on the Fox News Channel.” (7)

Right Critiques of the Media

Are More People Tune into O’Reilly?“The combined audience of the three networks news programs is well over thirty

million Americans, and better than fifteen times the number tuning into Mr. O’Reilly.” (7)

Lack of Fact CheckingThese ratios render Goldberg’s logic entirely nonsensical.

“Had he, or anyone related to the book, had enough respect for his readers to bother with even ten minutes of research, this claim would have never made it into print” (7)

Right Critiques of the Media

There is a Liberal Media, But it is SmallA liberal media does exist, but is quite insignificant “compared to its conservative

counterpart.” The liberal wing of the mass media is “tiny and profoundly underfunded compared to its conservative counterpart, but it does exist.” (9)

A Liberal Media

Media is Large, and Political Diverse: Cons. Well Represented

Conservatives at “Liberal” News Outlets:• New Yorker:

Michael Kelly: a “Gore/Clinton Hater” Joe Klein: “DLC neo-conservative” Tucker Carlson: “right-wing talk show host”

Salon: Andrew Sullivan: conservative bloggerDavid Horowitz: converted conservative activist

Politics of the Media

Media is Large, and Political Diverse: Cons. Well Represented

Conservatives at “Liberal” News Outlets:CNN:

David Novak: Wash Post, reporter.David Brooks: former conservative author.Tucker Carlson: conservative commentator.Ann Coulter: conservative media critic.Jonah Goldberg: Weekly Standard cont.Pat Robertson: Conservative religious figure

Politics of the Media

Media is Large, and Political Diverse: Cons. Well Represented

Conservatives at “Liberal” News Outlets:New York Times:

William Safire: Nixon speech writerA.M. Rosenthal: neoconservative Bill Keller: DLC conservative as the well as the steadfast Thomas Friedman: pro-corporate globalization

columnist

Politics of the Media

Populist argument supporting myth of a liberal media. (12) As Goldberg argued in a letter to the New Republic: Say I am wrong. “But what

about the millions and millions of Americans…who think I am right…Are they all stupid?” (p. 12)

A September 2002 Gallop Poll found that “47% of Americans…believe media is ‘too liberal’” (p. 12)

Politics of the Media