The Main Stream Media And the Void It Leaves Behind

There has been a great deal of discussion lately about media bias. Liberals point to the truth that the media has turn into consolidated amongst a reasonably handful of big corporations and for that reason, has a bias to the proper. Conservatives point to the truth that most individuals in the media, primarily based on surveys, are registered democrats and vote regularly for the democrat candidate, thereby displaying a bias to the left.

In fact, neither of these claims proves media bias. It is ludicrous to say that because the media is consolidated amongst a couple of corporations that it is, for that reason, biased to the correct. Historically, corporations have donated as much to democrat candidates as to republican ones. There are as several democrats who run big corporations as there are republicans.

For example, according to OpenSecrets.org, these corporations all contribute substantially more to democrats than republicans Comcast, Common Electric, Boeing, Verizon, Capital Group Organizations, Exelon Corp. In truth, most corporations hedge their bets and contribute just about the same amount to democrats as they do to republicans. For the ones that actually take a stand and make a point of going to one particular party above the other, most in fact contribute much more to democrats than to republicans! The idea that corporations are interchangeable with republicans is a myth.

Similarly, to say that due to the fact most folks in the media vote for democrats does not prove bias either. It is achievable to vote predominantly for democrats (or republicans) and still be an objective reporter (feasible but in practice, not probably). The only way to prove media bias is to look at what the media truly does - What does it cover? How much time does it devote to specific stories? How does it frame these stories?

It is clear that the Primary Stream Media (MSM), which consists of ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, The New York Times and the overwhelming majority of print and broadcast media, including most of the entertainment market in Hollywood as effectively as news magazines this kind of as Time and Newsweek, devotes time to some stories and neglects other people. The selection to neglect selected stories has developed a void for these stories. An option media has sprung up out of necessity to fill that void. The substitute media consists mainly of Fox Cable News and talk radio. The internet has been successfully utilized by both the MSM and the alternative media.

Seeking at actual stories, it is clear that the Jeremiah Wright controversy was not going to be looked into with any investigative zeal by the MSM. What the MSM failed to recognize is that a large range of men and women cared about this story. Men and women were enraged at the hatred this reverend demonstrated towards the United States and they questioned why a presidential candidate would sit in a church for over 20 years and listen to rants against the quite nation that the candidate needed to be the president of!

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Latest quotes pulled out of "Journolist" which is a listserve (feel of it as a extended email chain) show that journalists had been actively searching for to bury the Reverend Wright story. These had been not just individuals writing on a blog. They have been journalists with the energy to effect the editorial choices of key newspapers, networks and magazines.

For illustration, Michael Tomasky, who writes for the Guardian, said to other members of "Journolist": "Listen folks'in my opinion, we all have to do what we can to kill ABC and this idiocy (ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos had the nerve to bring up the Wright situation) in whatever venues we have. This isn't about defending Obama. This is about how the (mainstream media) kills any chance of discourse that in fact serves the people."

Who is Michael Tomasky to determine how to "serve the men and women"? A reporter's task is to ask concerns and to get at the truth. When a story is "uncomfortable" to your belief program, is it suitable to bury the story and smear these who want to get to the bottom of it? Spencer Ackerman of the Washington Independent attempted to produce a climate of worry so that no one would dare speak about the Wright story. He mentioned on "Journolist", "Pick 1 of Obama's conservative critics, "Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares — and call them racists." In truth, this very scandal is now a story in and of itself but don't hold your breath waiting for the MSM to cover it. If Fox news, however, threatened to arbitrarily smear men and women for speaking about particular stories, the MSM would be on it and there would most likely be a congressional investigation!

For a lot of men and women, a "smoking gun" email chain wasn't required to prove media bias in the MSM. People have observed this by way of the many years this kind of as in 1994 when Peter Jennings described the republican takeover of the property as a "temper tantrum". Dan Rather was prepared to place doctored documents on the air in an work to put George Bush in a undesirable light. The funny thing about "Rathergate" was that it wasn't significantly of a story, even if have been correct! It just goes to show what lengths reporters will go to in order to put somebody they do not like (conservatives) in a undesirable light. When Newt Gingrich received a bonus for a book he was writing although he was an active member of congress, the MSM criticized him endlessly for it but when Senator Clinton got an even bigger bonus the only thing heard was crickets. The examples are endless.

A lot more lately the MSM has ignored horrific facts in Obama's healthcare bill and "stimulus" strategy. They've misrepresented the circumstance of the Shirley Sherrod firing and slandered Andrew Breitbart for daring to post a video of the speech. Just for the record, days before Breitbart posted that video the NAACP stated that the Tea Celebration had racists in their group. This statement was given with no proof whatsoever but the MSM reported it dutifully.

Whatever context the Sherrod video was in, it showed that NAACP members were laughing when Sherrod spoke about "sending a white particular person to one particular of his personal". That is an outrageous statement and the reaction by members of the audience to the speech was telling. But no one in the MSM brought up that angle of the story. Now the MSM is talking about Sherrod as if she is a hero and Breitbart as if he is Satan. But Breitbart did a service to the truth showing that these who condemn other individuals of racism really should clean their very own property 1st.

The option media has risen because of simple supply and demand. People on the left do not appear to comprehend provide and demand when it comes to simple economics so it is not surprising that they don't really catch the connection when it comes to the media. Bill Press, who wrote a book about bringing back some kind of the "Fairness doctrine" to speak radio, mentioned on an interview recently that his book was only concerned about speak radio and not about biases on television or newsprint. But 1 can not talk about the good results of conservative speak radio in a vacuum.

Conservative speak radio has succeeded due to the fact there is a ravenous hunger for info. Individuals are tired of seeing the MSM misrepresent who they are and what they think in. They are tired of the condescension proven by the MSM to something religious or patriotic. They are tired of acquiring their views and beliefs belittled. Not only at news networks but in the movies, conservative characters are presented as evil. It might be a single unnecessary line or component of the major theme of the film but it is there more often than not. It could be at a concert where all you want is to hear the music but have to listen to the singer denigrating the issues you hold dear to your heart.

People can say whatever they want. Free speech is a good thing but option of where to get data is also a great issue. Folks have turned away from the MSM and flocked to other sources due to the fact their priorities of what is essential are not the very same as these held by men and women in the MSM. Men and women in the MSM don't appear to care. These who don't share their vision of the globe and what is critical are just mere troglodytes. The MSM will in no way alter to satisfy the needs of their audience for data simply because that variety of info is "beneath" them. In the minds of men and women in the MSM, they have a "higher" calling which only they get to define and only they get to judge.

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