MEDIA

Shaping Truth the Liberal Media Way

By Paul Strand
Washington Sr. Correspondent

CBN.com – WASHINGTON - The mainstream media have long faced accusations that they lean Left and have a liberal agenda. But watching the news this year, when there is a conservative president to be defeated and a war in Iraq to bash, many feel the media have gone too far.

Folks in the major news media swear that they are balanced and objective, but why do so many Americans say it feels like those media are working off a partisan agenda?

Tim Graham, director of the conservative Media Research Council said, "Every survey shows that the news media are largely liberals and Democrats, and if you look at how they vote in presidential elections, you'll find that 80 percent or more of the national media vote for the Democrat."

CBN News could not get a representative on-camera from a liberal watchdog group, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), but they told us, via e-mail, that reporters' voting records don't necessarily reflect how they will actually cover issues, and that those in actual charge, like editors and publishers, tend to be more conservative than the reporters.

Still, Graham points out the media elite have uniformly bashed President Bush week after week this year, as if they are all playing from the same songsheet.

Graham remarked, "We had a week where they focused on Richard Clarke's book. We had a week where they focused on Paul O'Neill's book. We had two weeks where they focused on the president's service in the Texas Air National Guard. We had a month of Abu Ghraib."

Take the economy. It is usually the main factor that determines whether a president gets booted or re-elected. The last couple of years every economic factor has turned around and is firmly positive. The media DOES report these economic indicators, but still present the economy as so troubled that it has actually affected people's perception.

Graham said, "And when you do the polls, at the moment, people say the economy's going badly, which is really the exact opposite of what we're really seeing right now."

Speaking of polls, they have indicated for months now that this election, that Bush's fate, may well depend on Iraq, whether voters feel all the American blood and treasure spent to invade and democratize Iraq were worth it.

Graham feels that the mainstream media are trying to shape the election by making Americans feel Iraq was not worth it, and the media do this by harping on negative events and ignoring America's many accomplishments there.

He said, "If you focus constantly on the negatives, and constantly on the violence and constantly on the chaos, and create the impression that the Iraqis are not grateful for what we've done -- then the average American says, 'It wasn't worth it.' "

FAIR's representative points out that recent polls show a lot of Iraqis really are not particularly grateful, and that accurately reporting all the woes of the White House in Iraq is not bias.

Still, Graham says the media is refusing to cover most of the good news. One other area where observers like Graham see a bias by the media elite is the issue of homosexual rights.

Survey after survey show around two-thirds of Americans oppose gay marriage. But the mainstream media present a unified front that portrays same sex marriage in a favorable light, and opposition to it as nearly unthinkable -- that is, in the rare times when the opposition gets any coverage at all.

Graham said, "It's almost as if they understand that the majority of the American people oppose it, and it's the media's job to say, 'Here's where you're wrong. We will change your mind. And we're going to keep doing this until we change your mind."

Translate Page