We have to dispel the "liberal media myth".

[Pobeka]

I know many have tried. I think for a large part of america no one is listening, it's up to grassroots, and one on one conversations becuase the media sure isn't going to let this out.

We really need to think of the 1 liners which make it obvious the media is not liberal. This is a big part of the problem we face in educating the open-minded, media-challenged voter who knows nothing else but Fox and CNN. I think having 1 line phrases which are obviously irrefutable is a great tool to have in our debate toolbox.

Here's two ideas:

--
"If you were a liberal media, and wanted a more liberal government, you'd say you were conservative to draw in the conservative readers!"

"The liberal media did not protect Bill Clinton, it attacked him, otherwise we would never have known the name Monica Lewinski."

--

What ideas to you have?

[kentuck]

1. Is that phrase, "liberal media", in a positive or negative light?

Because if it is spoken and meant to be negative, then why would the actual "liberal media' create a term that would paint them in a negative light? Obviously, the phrase has been invented by someone not in the "liberal media".....

[lazarus]

2. the easiest way to do it

And it works, flawlessly:

When someone complains about the liberal media, simply ask them for actual evidence that the media is liberal. Then sit back and watch their head explode.

[brainshrub]

3. For some reason, they claim that Peter Jennings is a Liberal

:shrug:

[lazarus]

7. and then you respond

Really? What's your evidence?


Just keep using that word. They absolutely hate the concept of evidence, because the evidence doesn't exist.

That's a general clue in life; when people get upset at the concept of providing evidence for a claim, the odds are that they don't have the evidence.

[MadProphetMargin]

4. Either that, or they'll simply state that "everybody knows" that it is.

Either way...OWNED.

[Pobeka]

8. So the one liner (not asked as a question) is:

"There is no evidence of a liberal media, the overwhelming evidence shows a conservative media!"

--

Good one!

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

23. I tried that...

the person said "One of them even admitted that the entire media is liberal!!!"
I asked "Who was it?"
He replied, "I don't remember...one of the big three news anchors, but HE ADMITTED IT!!!!"
I said, "Find me the quote."
He replied, "I don't know where it is...give me a few days..."

I never heard any more about it.

It's funny when they try to use "facts".

[lazarus]

24. sweet

They're just not very good at it, because the facts don't support most of their positions.

[KissMyAsscroft]

5. If the media is so liberal and powerful...

Why do the Repubs control all three branches of government?

Oh, I know...we are just lulling them into a false sense of security!!!! LOL!

Idiots.

[pyrenees]

29. Media and Government are two separate entities

Liberal Media:

PBS
NPR
CNN
Dan Rather
Peter Jennings
Katie Kuric
New York Times
LA Times
Time
Newsweek

Conservative Media

700 Club
?
AM Talk Radio

Moderate Media

Fox News
Wall Street JOurnal

Compare talk radio to ABC,CBS, NBC,CNN,MSNBC,New York Times
and you basically have Samson and Goliath.

It's pretty hard not to report the fact that the President (Clinton) is being impeached no matter how liberal you are.

IMHO
Pyrenees

[newyawker99]

33. Hi pyrenees!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[KissMyAsscroft]

35. Huh?

First of all CNN is not liberal. Where have you been living? They are 24 hour a day Bush praising propaganda.

NPR is liberal but they give opposing viewpoints. They are respectful to their guests and most liberals I know think that they have actually moved right to appease critics.

PBS is the only real news on American television. Frontline being the best. You will learn more in one hour of Frontline than you will from an entire year of CNN, and that is not an exageration. The only thing you learn from CNN is Britney's dance moves and that Bush is God.

The New York Times supported the war and marginalized protestors! I refuse to read that shit. It's not liberal at all.

The LA times is only as liberal as California and is more fluff than content.

Katie Couric hosts a morning show. She rails about Colon Cancer. Is that some sort of liberal issue?

Newsweek is moderate. They bash both sides and they crucified Gore.

Time is the same. They alternately bash and praise Bush.


Compare all of these with the slavish devotiong and refusal to allow any critical viewpoints of the president on AM radio, Fox News, CNN, Wall Street Journal, Every cable news show, Tim Russert, and if you want to get really technical and include Katie Couric than I should include Dr. Phil for good measure.

And don't even get me started with the fundie preachers all over the place.

-------------------

I can tell by your post that you haven't the slightest clue what a real liberal is. The media has already brainwashed you, you just haven't noticed. I was the same way until I started reading foreign news, and watching CNN world from time to time. Traveled a bit. The news in this country is right wing propaganda, but it's hard to get a good view from inside the belly of the beast. You really have to be looking from the outside in to get a good perspective.

Its no coincidence that every foreign person that comes to visit me watches the news and literally can't believe that we buy this shit. It's just a well known fact to anyone but Americans.

[Pobeka]

38. History check.

Bill Clinton, despite the one of the most massive federal investigations ever launched against a sitting president, committed no crimes *worthy* of using tax-payers money. If the press was liberal, we would not know the name "Monica Lewinski". But, for months on end, did the press give a hoot about public policy matters? No. All we heard about was if a cigar was involved, if there was semen on a dress.

Compare that to George W. Bush, whose very appointment was dubious, has admittedly lied about leading the nation into a war. He is stonewalling serious investigations into areas of major public impact, from the energy taskforce to an open investigation of the 9/11 attacks.

Any one of the dozens of Bush lies, if told by a democrat (pick a dem, any one), would result in headlines on several newspapers. Contrast Condit and Scarborough. Contrast *'s Harken insider trading vs. Martha Stewart. Contrast Bush's AWOL, DUI, cocaine addicted history vs. the amount of press given to pursuit of finding out if Clinton "inhaled".

Hang around here, you'll get lot's of information, many times the sources for assertions will be given, so you don't have to take anyone's word for it. But, careful, it's a catch 22, you can't educate yourself *about* the media by looking to the mainstream media, it *is* the problem.

And, welcome to DU!

[dennis4868]

6. If the media....

was truly liberal Bush would be facing impeachment hearings and being held accountable for all the crap over the last 3 1/2 years....Valerie Plame, WMD, medicareGate, secret energy meetings, lying about the air quality in NYC right after 911, changing their annual science report written by Nobel Prize winners, wiretapping UN officials, using the Dept. of Homeland Security to follow Texas state dems, lying on their annual environmental reports, preventing the 911 commission from doing their job, blocking out important pats of the congressional 911 findings, lying to congress that they had a post war plan for Iraq, etc....Can you imagine how the so-called liberal media would have reacted if Clinton had done any one of the things mentioned above? They would have to put down and stop looking at their blow up pic of Clinton's penis and do some serious journalism!

[Pobeka]

9. All true, but I want to catch the open mind before the eyes glaze over.

And, *finally*, it looks like it's taking longer for eyes to glaze over.

[strategery blunder]

12. ANY mention of anything that Bush did wrong is considered evidence...

of the "evil liberal media conspiracy."

While these items have not been plastered all over the top stories, most of them have received some passing mention (usually as one last 15 second story before cut to commercial). Freepers will say that even this minute coverage constitutes evidence of a "liberal" bias. They don't realize the huge Bush propaganda machine exerts far more influence because the fearmongering stories about evil terrorists behind every corner (which is exactly what Rove wants) is centrist to them.

As long as a single video clip that calls one of shrub's mistakes sneaks its way into the back end of the evening news, freepers will holler about a monolithic, evil, Democratic conspiracy to brainwash them.

I should know. I live in freeper country.

[pyrenees]

30. Jeepers Creepers Freepers!

Klato Barrado Nikto

Scotty Beam Me Up

We're screwed man, Game over, game over!

Dave, stop Dave, stop

I've just picked up a fault in the AE-35 unit

[keithyboy]

10. Just keep saying everytime you get a public forum: "the RW meida"

Say it over and over again. Every spokesperson for the Dems and liberals and progressives should repeat this phrase as a new mantra. Speak it to the talking heads, the radio pundits, and anyone else you speak to. REMEMBER: "the right-wing media."

[Pobeka]

11. Excellent point. People believe a lie repeated enough.

Now we can just repeat the truth over and over. Truth repeated -- a powerful tonic.

[number6]

13. you mean the pro Bu$h, pro War, corporate Media

what's Liberal About it ?

[rocktop15]

14. I don't want a liberal media....

I just want a media that puts facts out on the table, with no bias present, and lets the public interpret those for themselves. They're not doing a very good job of that at the present....

[Pobeka]

19. Admirable goal. No bias in media is what we need.

But when there is a bias, it should be honestly assessed, and up front in everyone's minds.

[NewJeffCT]

32. No bias is next to impossible

How about something like the UK where the Conservative & Liberal media outlets are at least honest about what they represent? here, we get Faux news claiming to be "fair & balanced" when they are Far Right and CNN claiming to be the "most trusted" when they are Right of center.

[Cat Atomic]

15. The media isn't conservative OR liberal.

It's corporatist. That usually puts them on the side of Republicans, but not always. They don't toe the conservative line on issues like gun control or abortion, for instance.

There are exceptions, of course. Right wing radio, Fox News, the American Spectator... outlets like those simply act as propaganda outlets for the RNC. But the media in general has a corporate bias.

[Pobeka]

18. True, true. But could we at least get rid of the *current* myth?

This one's pretty important right now. The corporate owned media leans soooo heavy to the right...

[Cat Atomic]

20. I just think the best way to dispel the myth is by speaking the truth.

It doesn't do us any good to dispel one myth by promoting another. If a person has already internalized a myth, it's hard to convince them otherwise. They'll find any small flaw in your argument and use it to dismiss everything you say.

Here's what I mean.

I was talking to a relative of mine, and I said the media was right wing. He scoffed at the idea. I mentioned their support for the Iraq invasion and a few other similar cases. He talked about negative news coverage of anti-abortion protesters and the NRA. He felt these issues *proved* the media was liberal, and he wouldn't listen to anything else on the subject.

When I thought back on it, I realized that I'd lost his attention because I was wrong, and he saw it. He was wrong, too, of course- but there you go.

Anyway, I know I'm rambling. I'm just saying that I think it's more effective to use the phrase "corporate media" than "right wing media", that's all. It's more accurate.

[Pobeka]

21. No, you're not rambling. I appreciate your thoughts re: corporate media.

Corporate media is of course the real problem. They have too close of ties with government, and we can end up in an endless propaganda machine, regardless of which party is in power.

Thanks!

[rinsd]

37. Agreed

It's corporatist. That usually puts them on the side of Republicans, but not always. They don't toe the conservative line on issues like gun control or abortion, for instance.

[forgethell]

16. I don't think you idea

will work. Contrary to popular opinion on DU, most of the conservatives that I know are intelligent people who can tell if a commentator is spouting a conservative or liberal line. That's where we keep making our mistake in trying to reach people. We think that they are 'sheeple' and talk to them accordingly. Rightfully, they resent it and tune us out. Conservatives don't listen To Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh in order to find out what to think that day. They already think that way. And ANY one-liner is refutable. One-liners are for bumber stickers, not arguing.

But you deserve credit for trying, anyway.

[Pobeka]

17. Thanks for your thought. There are people for whom this would work.

For example, my parents. <sigh>

[Arkana]

22. Hmmm...

I'm still unsure where the myth of the "liberal media" comes from. Did it originate during the Clinton era?

Any moron who doesn't live under a rock and watches Faux News and CNN (god forbid, I have to wash my eyes out when I watch either of them) can see that the media places a slant on EVERYTHING that's reported. Maybe the freepers just choose not to see it.

[sendero]

25. Cynically...

... I think anyone who still thinks there is a liberal media in this country has their head so far up their ass they can use their navel as a periscope. They are basically hopeless.

I realize, this is not helpful at all. :)

[bread_and_roses]

26. I remember reading about several studies

a while back that actually examined media bias by, for instance, counting how many times a source was identified as "liberal" or "conservative." They were quite interesting. Anyone know the titles? It's lost in the clutter in my memory.

[lostnfound]

27. If the media is liberal, are its corporate owners masochists or stupid?

Do you think they sit in their boardrooms all day and say to themselves, 'I really hate everything our company produces!!'

[Festivito]

28. I recall when DUers held the media as Left-wing.

There are archived threads.

My favorite rebuttals:

1. Bill Maher was canned off rabbit-ear TV, Phil Donahue dropped from highest rated MS NBC show, and now Howard Stern after years of being a filthy Bush supporter, dropped five days after he changed to be against Bush, for something said by a caller.

2. How many stories did you hear about Marc Rich being pardoned by Clinton, name one parallel story about a Bush I pardon you heard. Such as Bush I pardoning a guy who shot down a plane, or the Iran/Contra scandal convicts. None. There were none in the main press. Marc Rich, BTW, helped with Middle East peace making and deserved a pardon, but, still must repay the money. One journalist found Bush stories, wrote article, and was fired from her volunteer position. Yes, they fired a volunteer.

3. How many stories were there about trashing the White House by Clinton staff. How many stories were there about Clinton staff asking for apologies from Bush staff, or about Bush I staff leaving scratched desks. They were printed once, each, on page A22 or such.

4. Name a LW radio talk host.

5. Separate NEWS MEDIA from ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA. Yes, the entertainment media is Left Wing, mostly, not completely.

6. Name a Left-winger who claims the news media is left-wing.

The news media is mostly RW.

[Az]

31. How they think, liberals vs conservatives

The thing which probably best defines the difference between a liberal and a conservative is that the liberal believes that all views are necissary to understand a problem. The conservative believes that only their view is valid and that giving voice to any other view is wrong.

Thus from the point of view of a conservative any source which considers multiple views is liberal. While the conservative source will do everything in its power to enforce the one view.

Thus a media source which tries to be truly balanced (not faux balanced) will be decried as hopelessly liberal by the right. In an attempt to appease the market they will continue to try to present multiple views but they will endevour to slant it to the right more often. From this they believe they avoid the appearance of liberal bias. However because they still give voice to multiple views the right will continue to castigate them as liberal. Of course during all this slanting to the right the liberals are truely amazed at the loss of balanced media.

In truth it is likely that the bulk of the representitives in the media do have a liberal leaning. Exposing all information is in line with liberal thinking. Thus those that feel a draw to reporting the news share an aspect of liberal thinking. But success in the industy is driven by supporting the wishes of the editors and CEOs who happen to be conservative. Thus the stories that get lead are favorable to the right.

[BeHereNow]

34. Hey Pobeka!

Saw your message about my PM-
I have not been able to open it for some reason.
The page opens, but is blank, which really aggrevates me
because I have messages according to notifications.
I will try to access it through my daughters' computer.
I have an ancient G3 and browser...and ever since
I went DSL, half of my links wont load. Ah, technology.
BHN

[Pobeka]

36. OK, thanks, I was worried, but no more.

[dorktv]

39. Call it like it is:

I say So on the conservative media last night....