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It's always good to know who's cooking your news: Kevin O'Brien
Thursday, July 29, 2010, 5:00 AM
Kevin OBrien, The Plain Dealer


I used to say the liberal bias of the American news media was not the result of some dark conspiracy. I meant it, too.

It's a harder argument to make than it used to be.

The Daily Caller, a Web-based news outlet with a conservative political slant, has been having a field day lately, quoting from posts on a listserv called the Journolist.
A listserv is an e-mail-driven communication tool used by people with a common interest. When a member posts a comment to the listserv's e-mail address, it is then distributed to all of the other members by e-mail.

The Journolist, started in 2007 by liberal Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein, linked several hundred journalists, political operatives and eggheads, until The Daily Caller started making public the things they had been saying to one another.
Their common interest was Barack Obama -- ensuring his election, promoting his agenda and savaging his critics.

The Journolist is no more. The political operatives got away unscathed and the eggheads are safe in their classrooms, but the journalists deservedly have egg on their faces.
You know you've got the drop on a liberal newsie when she's compelled to say something like, "I made poorly considered remarks about Rush Limbaugh to what I believed was a private e-mail discussion group from my personal e-mail account."

That would be Journolist member Sarah Spitz, a producer for public radio station KCRW in Santa Monica, Calif., who posted a little fantasy about how much she would enjoy watching the conservative talk radio host die of a heart attack.

She said she would "laugh loudly like a maniac and watch his eyes bug out."

And here we thought that hate -- the very word Spitz used to describe her own feelings about Limbaugh later in her post -- was the exclusive property of the right. Postings on the Journolist prove otherwise.

While Journolist members were discussing strategies for suppressing news about Obama's America-bashing pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., during the presidential campaign, Spencer Ackerman, then of the Washington Independent and now of Wired magazine, suggested this:

"It's not necessary to jump to Wright-qua-Wright's defense. What is necessary is to raise the cost on the right of going after the left. In other words, find a rightwinger's [sic] and smash it through a plate-glass window. Take a snapshot of the bleeding mess and send it out in a Christmas card to let the right know that it needs to live in a state of constant fear. Obviously I mean this rhetorically."

Obviously.

Everyone on the listserv felt much better after Obama won. There were tears (rhetorical, one presumes), cheers, f-bombs of happiness and lots of backslapping among Journolist members for a job well done.

And what members of the general public didn't know wouldn't hurt them.
Oops.

You still may have to snoop around a bit to find the Journolist story. Not all of America's newspapers, for instance, seem to think it's worthy of any mention. But it's out there and it's not going away. The Daily Caller seems to be milking it for all it's worth -- and good for The Daily Caller.

It does make the questions at public gatherings a little harder for responsible journalists to answer, though.

Here's the situation as I see it, having spent 30 years in journalism -- and every day of those 30 years far out of step with the predominant political culture of my workplace:
The problem is not that the mainstream media try to keep conservatives out. Nobody asks an entry-level applicant for a reporting job about his or her politics. It just doesn't matter.

The problem is that, because of what they read and what they see, conservatives perceive the media environment as uninviting or even hostile, so they find something else to do with their talents.

The left-wing bias that results is unintentional and passive -- and thus in no way comparable to the active discussion of strategy and tactics on view in the Journolist postings.

It's impossible to say how much influence the Journolist posters had in creating a favorable public perception of Obama and shouting down his critics. They certainly didn't hurt him.

But the cloud they have cast over journalism has a silver lining. The revelation of their scheming will make at least a few more people question the quality of their news in a country that desperately needs more skeptics.
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WPE

The media has a right-wing bias. It is completely controlled by large corporations. That is why they tell you that they have a left-wing bias. Think about it.

Yeah...those sneaky right wingers...they hire all those liberals to slant the news as a false flag operation. ESPECIALLY that Soros guy! He's the sneakiest one of the lot! Where would we all be RV without you to explain it all to us?

When you have the highest rated news channel conservative leaning, and 20 million plus folks who listen to talk shows that are clearly on the right, and with print media is falling out of favor, the whole left wing bias thing doesn't seem so profound. Sure ABC, NBC, and CBS news in the evening leans left, but they have free falling in ratings for many years and don't report all that much news anymore. There is a media for all tastes now with millions picking the information medium of their choice.

No, the mainstream media overall is more slanted to the right, period. It doesn't even appear to be slanted to the left unless you believe the media's own claim that they are slanted to the left. CBS, ABC, and NBC are barely news at all; it is more entertainment. Fox News is the highest rated news channel (I believe) and they are clearly Republican. Other news stations are more middle of the road, but also overall Republican. Talk radio is completely dominated by Republican hosts.

The explanation is simple. They are sponsored by large corporations which tend to learn Republican.

So you're saying ONE Channel has ALL THE REST BEAT? Nobody but a few isolated liberals are watching ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, NPR...

Dont be ridiculous.

Your opinion that ABC, NBC & CBS arent news is news to everyone else. And if you think they still arent biased of if MSNBC & CNN are "middle of the road" then you have quite the set of blinders on. Really its laughable to even argue such.

And I think your robotic (and 100% predictable) Republican outlook and bias is laughable. I can predict your view on almost every single issue b4 you even say anything. I still wonder if you are being paid to post your countless number of Republican-bias articles and viewpoints on here. Seems like you are obsessed with the Republican party and mainstream Republican views and don't think of anything outside of that. Seems almost inhuman to me and that is why I wonder if you are being paid to do it. I don't recall ever encountering anybody with such a one-track and obsessive mind, except for a few people I know on the other extreme who claim everything and everybody is racist.

Uh okay...... a flame thread..... I am not interested. Flame away.

NO ONE who thinks MSNBC is middle of the road has any right to call anyone else bised!

I'm not sure about MSNBC; haven't watched that hardly at all. Is that the one with Linus and Mancow? Point is that IN GENERAL, the media has a pro-corporate bias. The Democrats and Republicans also both have a pro-corporate bias. This shouldn't be surprising to anybody; just follow the money.

I think you're confusing the two, RV. Ever since JP Morgan and Nelson Rockefeller bought the elite academics and convinced them that a central bank was a good thing, there has been an unholy alliance between big-business and academia. But, without exception those elite academics have been teaching liberal social agendas for 100 years and are firmly on the "left." Big business is generally on the right, but your assertion that pro-corporate bias means all things "right" is erroneous.

You're not sure about MSNBC?

Here are some quotes:

Chris Matthews: I have to tell you, you know, it’s part of reporting this case, this election, the feeling most people get when they hear Barack Obama’s speech. My, I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don’t have that too often.

Keith Olbermann: Fox News is worse than Al Qaeda--worse for our society. It's as dangerous as the Ku Klux Klan ever was.

Keith Olbermann: folks that watch Fox News are "tin foil hatters, conspiracy theorists, paranoids and racists."

Keith Olbermann: Olbermann calls Brown a "homophobic racist reactionary" who "supports violence against women." "I'm sorry, I left out the word sexist."

Chris Matthews: If you listen to this network, there is a lot of debate on MSNBC about this health care bill," Matthews said. "Left vs. center-left, for it or against it, there are all points. Same with CNN.

Chris Matthews: I was trying to think about who he was tonight. It's interesting: he is post-racial, by all appearances. I forgot he was black tonight for an hour. You know, he's gone a long way to become a leader of this country, and passed so much history, in just a year or two. I mean, it's something we don't even think about. I was watching, I said, wait a minute, he's an African-American guy in front of a bunch of other white people. And here he is president of the United States and we've completely forgotten that tonight — completely forgotten it. I think it was in the scope of his discussion. It was so broad-ranging, so in tune with so many problems, of aspects, and aspects of American life that you don't think in terms of the old tribalism, the old ethnicity. It was astounding in that regard. A very subtle fact. It's so hard to talk about. Maybe I shouldn't talk about it, but I am. I thought it was profound that way.

Chris Matthews: Teasing a segment on the book during his show “Hardball,” Matthews said: “If she can read, if she can write, she’ll make some money.” Matthews repeated his suggestion that Palin could not write the book later in the show. “The question is who actually will write the Palin book,” he said. “The only politician I know who can write is Barack Obama.”

Chris Matthews: Do you think he’s as good at faking it as Bill Clinton was? Can he pretend to be a centrist? ... Can he sell himself as a non-transformative, regular guy president who just goes with the flow like Bill Clinton did?


Yes, Fox leans right, but to deny that MSNBC does not lean left is preposterous.

mspart

historically, and in saying that I mean prior to the last 15 years, media was hard left and anti right wing.

since the uprising of fox news, many of the people who didnt identify with traditional network media had an outlet.

talk radio is mostly right leaning with the left agenda unable to gain traction that arena.

as a result much of the TV traditional networks have lost audience, and newsprint is rapidly being replaced with internet news.

still there is left bias in the media.

when was the last time newsprint ran a clicker on the fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan?

that was a staple of newsprint prior to Obama, but since there is a left president those stories are no longer news.

think about it.

Your anti-business bias is duly noted. However your understanding of how the news is gathered and reported is woefully inadequate. Large corporate shareholders could give a rat's patooie about the content or bias of the news...their ONLY concern is the bottom line and RATINGS. They are CAPITALISTS... not ideologues.

You don't get it. I'm not anti-business one bit. Rather, I'm only against large corporations controlling our media and government, which they do. In fact I'm more pro- American business than you are. That is why I want to do everything possible to increase manufacturing in this country and you don't seem to care about that too much as evidenced by your acceptance of our one-sided trade policies (in favor of all our trade partners).

It is true that news is entertainment. Read again what I said about CBS, ABC, and NBC. However, everything else being equal the news will slant a little bit on the side of corporations because that is who their sponsors are and owners. There are plenty of entertaining things that could be said on the news and would spike ratings but nobody dares to say them.

The media has a corporate bias. Left and right is subjective and it depends very much on how you measure it. Therefore I'm not going to argue that anymore. Even the Democrats now are pro-corporate almost as much as the Republicans because they surrender to the money that feeds them. They are especially cozy with the banks.

When I say I don't know about MSNBC, I truly mean I don't know. I've never spent much time at all watching that and I rarely watch any mainstream news anymore at all. Like Vise said, it is mostly entertainment. MSNBC and Fox probably not as much as ABC, NBC, and CBS.

More than matzo balls: Kosher cooking revisited

Link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... gD9H8PR3O0

Red, - I understand. Thanks for the clarification.

Have a great weekend!!

mspart