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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums15 things everyone would know if there really was a liberal media bias
Outsourcing (or offshoring) is a bigger contributor to unemployment in the U.S. than laziness.
Since 2000, U.S. multinationals have cut 2.9 million jobs here while increasing employment overseas by 2.4 million. This is likely just the tip of the iceberg as multinational corporations account for only about 20% of the labor force.
When was the last time you saw a front-page headline about outsourcing?
Source: Wall Street Journal via Think Progress.
2. Upward wealth redistribution and/or inequality.
In 2010, 20% of the people held approximately 88% of the net worth in the U.S. The top 1% alone held 35% of all net worth.
The bottom 80% of people held only 12% of net worth in 2010. In 1983, the bottom 80% held 18% of net worth.
These statistics are not Democrat or Republican. They are widely available to reporters. Why aren't they discussed in the "liberal" media?
Source: Occupy Posters
3. ALEC.
If there was a corporate organization that drafted laws and then passed them on to legislators to implement, wouldn't you think the "liberal" media would report on them?
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is such an organization. Need legislation drafted? No need to go through a lobbyist to reach state legislatures anymore. Just contact ALEC. Among other things, ALEC is responsible for:
Stand Your Ground laws
Voter ID laws
Right to Work laws
Privatizing schools
Health savings account bills which benefit health care companies
Tobacco industry legislation
Many legislators dont even change the proposals handed to them by this group of corporations. They simply take the corporate bills and bring them to the legislative floor.
This is the primary reason for so much similar bad legislation in different states.
Hello ... "liberal media" ... over here!!!
They're meeting in Chicago this weekend. Maybe the "liberal media" will send some reporters.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/08/07/1229087/-15-things-everyone-would-know-if-there-were-a-liberal-media
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)I know these things from reading newspapers and magazines. Without a "liberal media". And most of them were covered on NPR.
You do, however, actually have to buy the media and read them. Or listen to something besides cable news.
iemitsu
(3,888 posts)by others, what to think, but you and I, and other DUers are, on average, are much better informed than the average citizen.
As you note, one has to buy/access, and read (and comprehend) the news to become informed.
In America the press, by design, is supposed to inform the public about issues that will effect our lives. It is the information, provided by the press, that guides us in our personal and community behavior and dictates our choices in the voting booth.
The mainstream press in America (not just cable news), which the huge percentage of Americans rely on for vital information, functions as a propaganda outlet for corporations and the government, which is apparently wholly owned by corporate interests.
National and local television, evening news is the source of most American's knowledge about politics, international events, the economy, etc. (all things important to know). These networks, and the personalities associated with them, never sponsor honest discussions about any of the issues noted by the OP.
I have college educated friends and relatives, who consider themselves to be well-informed, who have never heard of ALEC.
When it comes to income inequality, wealth accumulation is celebrated but never juxtaposed with the poverty it creates.
Rather than providing analysis or evaluation, of policy or events, American media outlets justify, for their audiences, the policy or our government's response to events.
The very fact that the corporate media, self-identify as "liberal" is a propaganda strategy to get the audience to believe that right is left.
The nature of the press should be a topic that Americans discuss often. Every source of information contains bias and it is important to identify that bias, if one is to best understand the information.
tblue
(16,350 posts)on MSNBC shows, I stopped watching. I wish them well but there are more important things I want to hear about. Going back to Democracy Now.
proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)snagglepuss
(12,704 posts)roody
(10,849 posts)short on money, being made to fund retirements for the next 75 years.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)erpowers
(9,350 posts)A number of the issues on the list are things that Democrats could discuss every time they appear on television shows, at town hall meetings, and at every speech given. The Democratic Party, including President Obama, should talk about these issues every chance they get; however, it seems they do not.
However, I will acknowledge that what the first responder to this post said was right. You do not need a "liberal media" in order to know these things. You just need to read newspapers and read books while getting your news from a variety of sources. Although it would be nice if television news paid more attention to some of these stories, I had heard about just about all of those stories.
Just Saying
(1,799 posts)But I'm not suggesting that we need a liberal media, just that its a myth that the media is liberal. This myth is the right wing's excuse for Fox News and AM radio's obvious bias. Whatever the MSM says, the right can either ignore it as biased because "they're liberal" or if it's negative towards Dems they say "See, it must be true if even the liberal media says it!"
We can all inform ourselves by choosing to do so, but those that call themselves reporters and "news" shows should have better standards. I think we need to discuss the fact that the main stream media isn't liberal-it's lazy, corporate-controlled and loves the sensational. They don't do any of us any service.