It drives me crazy when I hear people saying that there is no bias in the mainstream news media. The argument usually goes, "The reporters may be liberals, but the owners of the newspapers and television stations are Republican fatcats, and they control what the reporters report." First of all, are these people really contending that CNN, MSNBC and the New York Times are leaning too far to the right? Fox News is ridiculed for their lean to the right, but that's extreme only in relation to the other media outlets. They are fairly close to the stand of the American people, slightly right or left depending on the individual reporter or issue.
The bias of the mainstream media was really driven home several presidential elections ago; at the Republican convention, a black senator was called upon to make a keynote speech. This was probably the proudest moment of the man's life. Wait a minute – a black Republican? That would have undermined all of the media's stereotyping. The only television channel that showed this speech was a religious-based news show; CNN was interviewing somebody on the convention floor who had a remarkable hat. "Ignore that man behind us; my, that's a lovely hat you're wearing."
The time was that reporters thought that their job was to report impartially. Today, the idea of "impartiality" has been rejected; everybody, they say, has some kind of bias. Journalism is now seen as an opportunity to influence events.
It's like the baseball umpires discussing their job over drinks. One said, "There's balls and there's strikes, and I call them like they are." The second said, "There's balls and there's strikes, and I call them like I see them." The third said, "There's balls and there's strikes, and they ain't nothing until I call them."
Thank God (not "thank goodness" or "Isn't it great that…" – thanks belong to God for His grace upon this nation) for radio and the blogosphere. These are the only outlets that aren't completely dominated by the Left.
-Ronald Rightside
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