Liberal Media Myth

Republicans and conservatives consistently complain the media is biased toward liberals. Ultimately, facts don't support this assertion. The media has grown more conservative over time even as conservatives' complaining about a "liberal" media rises. The unfortunate truth is if a conservative does or says something negative, then conservatives don't want it reported. If it does go reported then accusations of liberal bias begin, even when the media also reports incidents of liberals' wrongdoing.

Examples of Conservative Media
There are, however, things that disprove the liberal media myth. Republicans rarely acknowledge them. If confronted with them, Republicans generally change the subject.

The Media is Actually Conservative
A study by Pew through October 2011 examined coverage of President Obama and the Republican candidates competing in their primary nomination. The study found coverage of Obama was negative by a 4-to-1 margin, a level of negativity higher than any of the Republican candidates, including Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Ron Paul, among others. Over time the media has grown to be more conservative, with a 6% rightward shift among guests on Sunday political shows as early as the second Clinton presidency to Bush's first.

Even Tea Partiers themselves (a far-right movement) believe news coverage of their movement has been fair; 76% of organizers said it was fair in 2010 compared to a mere 8% saying it was very unfair. Critics pointed out the media rarely challenged the movement, and that the media even falsely portrayed Bush policies as Obama policies. Additionally that year, political outsiders were provided a far greater amount of media coverage if they were conservative than not. Republican Michele Bachmann basically admitted her side calls the media "liberal" because it reports her and others' mistake. FOX News is even credited with helping Republicans win the 2010 midterm elections through promotion of the party and its candidates, as well as through its activities as a communication and fundraising wing of the Republican Party. The "liberal" media often ignores lies and scandals by Republicans.

FOX "News" Encourages Murder and Violence (Literally)
Byron Williams was driven by FOX "News," Glenn Beck, and others to kill liberals. The Media Matters archive contains an extremely extensive and detailed account of Williams and the influence conservative media, conspiracy theories, and hate speech had on the "Progessive Hunter". An arsonist set fire to a mosque, saying FOX and right-wing talk radio convinced him that "most Muslims are terrorists."

Climategate vs. Denialgate
Even though the media is supposedly "liberal," it parroted conservative anti-climate-science talking points at length during the "Climategate" scandal (see Climate Change) without providing context or results of investigations. During "Denialgate" it ignored the leaked documents, vilified the scientist who leaked them, and very quickly ended reporting. It should also be noted the Heartland Institute, whose documents were leaked during "Denialgate," has threatened to file lawsuits against anyone who reports Denialgate.

Iraq War
The "liberal media" was in hysteria over going to war. Pro-war coverage overwhelmingly dominated newscasts. Anti-war voices were marginalized and in some cases outright made fun of. News articles questioning the motives for war were relegated to the back pages of newspapers. Coverage of protests was mostly an afterthought. The fact of the matter is we knew Iraq had no WMDs. We knew their military was in shambles. We knew Saddam's atrocities (which the US supported when they occurred) had stopped after the first Gulf War. We knew all of these things before the war. The "liberal media" almost completely ignored all of it.

Sarah Palin
When Palin first arrived on the scene as McCain's running mate in 2008, she was a media darling. She was supposed to be McCain's key to victory over Obama. Choosing Palin as McCain's VP pick was lauded as a genius move that would fire up the conservative base and stop the Obama campaign in its tracks.

The problem was that after a few interviews it became evident Palin was (and still remains) a very lackluster political figure with minimal grasp of issues. It wasn't until after these initial public appearances that the "liberal media" grew disillusioned with her and stopped crediting her as McCain's savior. Republicans conveniently forget this, and they also conveniently forget that the media should report what they know about the country's potential Vice President.

Also remember the "liberal media" believed Joe Biden's big mouth and bizarre public statements of his own would hurt Obama's chances.

Even today, although Palin continues blasting the "lamestream" media, that same lamestream media is known to defend her and blast her critics.

Coverage of President Obama
Obama has consistently received negative coverage from the "liberal" media, while in early 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney received far more positive coverage (even as Romney alleged a "liberal" media bias).

In 2010 the "liberal media" covered a huge conservative wave that knocked Democrats out of Congress in the midterm elections. Coverage criticizing the Obama administration was everywhere. Coverage of reduced public confidence in the administration was prevalent. As with the run-up to the Iraq war, the "liberal media" provided stunningly little coverage of the liberal views it supposedly holds.

For a few examples, note the following:

Republicans attack the economic stimulus package.

In private, many Republicans have acknowledged the stimulus has worked. Further, many attend events and groundbreaking ceremonies funded by the stimulus while they praise the fact those projects are bringing jobs to their constituents. The "liberal media" barely notices.

Unemployment remains high. Republicans attack Democrats for this.

We are currently suffering from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, which took years to recover from. We all knew this "Great Recession" would also take years to recover from. Obama acknowledged this during his campaign many times and has continued to do so. The crisis also began during the Republican Bush administration and was spurred by Republican economic policies. Republicans campaigning for office want to return to those same failed policies. The "liberal media" barely notices.

Talk Radio
Talk radio is overwhelmingly and unquestionably dominated by Republicans and conservatives. From right-wing religious stations to those hosting Rush Limbaugh, Doctor Laura, and others, the chances of hearing a liberal on talk radio are slim to none in many markets throughout the country. Relatively few major markets have any liberal talk radio, and those that do have only limited choices that remain overshadowed by their conservative counterparts. The claims of a "liberal" media almost universally ignore talk radio.

Ratings
The "liberal media" will report whatever they believe will bring them ratings. If sensationalism brings the ratings up, the media will lean towards sensationalism. If short sound bites are what sells and sticks in peoples' minds, that's that they'll do. The "liberal media" is driven more by business concerns than agenda concerns. If the "liberal media" truly espoused such crazy fringe beliefs, they would not stay in business. It is against the media's best interests to pursue an agenda.

Often Republicans will come up with a statistic showing FOX News' popularity among viewers. It must be noted FOX is far more conservative than any other media outlet. FOX has admitted its own biases many times, and those biases have been extremely well-documented among outsiders. No "liberal" media outlet is anywhere near as liberal as FOX is conservative.

And FOX ratings aren't as great as Republicans love to claim when you put them into context. If viewers really wanted conservative sensationalism that badly, FOX would outperform "liberal media" outlets by a much larger margin. Instead, the combined viewership of CNN, MSNBC, and others greatly outweighs the viewership of FOX.

Political Contributions
FOX News' owners have given nearly $1 million to the Republican Governors Association in 2010, providing an obvious link between FOX and the GOP. The station also illegally assists Republicans in soliciting campaign contributions.

2010 Elections, Republican Victories
Conservatives like to call the media liberal and say it is brainwashing people. If this is true, then Democrats should hold massive majorities in local and federal governments alike. If this is true, those majorities should have existed for decades since conservatives say the media has been liberal for decades. Coverage of Obama and the Democratic-held Congress in 2010 was extremely negative. The Tea Party and right-wing extremism were covered mostly positively and went on to win massive victories in those mid-term elections. The very fact that Republicans continue to exist as a major party and have continued to score major victories could easily be construed as proof that the media is conservative, not liberal.

Comparison of American vs. Foreign Media
TIME Magazine operates around the world. Though considered part of the "liberal" media, its coverage is sometimes different in the United States compared to its overseas editions. While overseas editions advertise major stories such as revolutions, economics, and religion on their covers, their American counterparts advertise fluff such as chores around the house instead.

CNN
Conservatives often deride CNN for being "liberal," calling it the "Clinton News Network" or "Communist News Network." The fact is that CNN has widely been regarded as being non-partisan. Many have wanted CNN to become more partisan in order to improve its ratings, but it has refused to imitate competitors such as FOX and MSNBC, preferring to retain its non-partisan brand. Because of its non-partisan slant, CNN tends to lose viewers when major events are not taking place.

FOX
FOX is prohibited from entering the Canadian TV market since Canadian law prohibits the reporting of lies as news. The network is so dedicated to pervasive misinformation that its viewers know less than people who don't watch news at all and are routinely the most misinformed on major issues. Reporters are known to alter Democrats' quotes to serve their political purposes. Some viewers have become so misinformed they literally see conspiracies and evil all around them, even refusing medical treatment because of fear over "Obamacare" and the "Muslim Brotherhood."

Rather than hire real journalists, the network hires people because of their looks and emphasizes graphics over content. Racism and other discrimination occasionally appear on the network as well, such as an online poll FOX posted which asked if the Jews are responsible for Jesus' death.

FOX is well-known for being super-conservative (see discussion in the above section for some examples). Five "big name" Republicans who considered a 2012 presidential run were employed by FOX: Sarah Palin, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, and John Bolton. This kind of direct connection between media and politics, in which FOX outright hires active conservative political figures, occurs regularly within the network - while rarely being seen elsewhere. Executives direct FOX to refer to Democratic proposals in ways that benefit Republicans. For example, although health reform does not create a government-run health plan, reporters were expected to use the phrase "government-run" anyway.

FOX is part of News Corporation, whose founder, chairman, and CEO is Rupert Murdoch. In 2011, a series of scandals in News Corporation's British holdings resulted in numerous hearings and investigations, and ultimately forced the News of the World newspaper to shut down. Corruption and illegal payments have also been revealed at The Sun. Investigations have begun into News Corporation's operations in the United States, including hacking into the phones of 9/11 victims.

FOX avoids news that potentially hurts Republicans.
 * 2012 Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin of Missouri said that in cases of "legitimate rape," the female body has ways to prevent pregnancy.  FOX virtually ignored this controversy, mentioning Todd Akin once.  When Indiana Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock made similar comments, FOX ignored those as well.
 * The repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell in the military was barely mentioned on FOX, as it would not appeal to its conservative base.

On a lighter note, 6-year-olds have outspelled FOX reporters.

An in-progress list of lies and double standards is being compiled here.

Overlooked Stories
There are many news stories that would advance liberal causes, but which the so-called "liberal" media ignores. If the media is truly so vehemently liberal, why are these stories so underreported?
 * Where Is The 24-Hour News Cycle On The Bomb At A Colorado NAACP?
 * Update: Is there a media blackout on the fracking flood disaster in Colorado?
 * Houston Sheriff Sgt. Lance McLean was shot and killed by an avid gun enthusiast and child molester, someone who would not have been able to pass a background check.