That Well-Known Liberal Bias

[babylonsister]

That Well-Known Liberal Bias
by Brian Morton | June 25, 2009


Ever notice that in some types of modern comedy, the funny part is just saying brutal truths out loud?

Chris Rock has made a career of this: Just listen to his riffs about the Million Man March, where the most embarrassing part of the whole spectacle is that there's a crackhead (former D.C. mayor Marion Barry) on stage. Or his riff, popular on YouTube, about how "How to Not Get Your Ass Kicked by the Police?" ("Number One: Obey the Law").

Probably the most pronounced example of uncomfortable-truths-stated-as-comedy occurred back when Stephen Colbert served as the after-dinner entertainment for the White House Correspondents' Association dinner during the presidency of George W. Bush. The dinner has become a giant glitzy insiders' affair, replete with Hollywood stars and the corresponding corporate excess that accompanies events like the Oscars. Colbert, however, gave the assembled press a large dose of truth that went over in the room like a giant bucket of cold water to the face.

Edward R. Murrow once famously said that the press itself "doesn't have a thin skin--it has no skin." The huff that arose from the offended masses of the Insider's Village that is Washington calmed when it began to dawn on them that perhaps Colbert might have been on point with his criticisms of a cowed press that let a cowboy president railroad them into cheerleading for his war of choice. Nothing like the reality of chart-topping iTunes sales of Colbert's address to wake up the national press corps.

Fast forward to now, and you'll note that those who were wrong then are still the ones with the loudest voices in the national media. And those who were right all along are still the ones shut out of the mainstream discourse (with the glaring exception of the New York Times' Paul Krugman, who was finally granted an occasional seat on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos).

Someone at the Washington Post who continually kept the Bush administration's feet to the fire was Dan Froomkin, who for the last five years assembled a daily collection of media links with his own commentary in regards to the activities of the Bush White House. In essence, Froomkin did the same thing from the left that official Post media critic Howard Kurtz does from the right, except that Kurtz (and the paper) refuse to acknowledge Kurtz's conservative skew.

more...

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/22505

[OHdem10]

1. Corporations and Wall Street are really running the country.

Therefore, which party is preferred by "Big Business"?
The Republican Party is their choice.

How do you keep Republican Policies and Ideas out front
even if they lost the election? The policies and ideas
are really the concern of Big Business.

The easiest way to keep Republican ideas and policies
out there is to have a "Corporate Media" who put out
the appropriate propaganda.

It is not in their interest to have strong Liberal voices
making logical arguments. This may confuse the people.

Mussolini, one of the more famous Fascists explains
Fascism this way.

Fascism is the merger of the Government and Business.

We have watched Business take over the country over
the last decades.

Liberals are not welcome.

[raccoon]

2. Great post. nt

[Tutankhamun]

3. Let that be a lesson for those in the media who would actually do their jobs.

:sarcasm: