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Author Topic:   Where is the "leftist" media in the US?
nator
Member (Idle past 2170 days)
Posts: 12961
From: Ann Arbor
Joined: 12-09-2001


Message 1 of 116 (332781)
07-18-2006 7:53 AM


In a recent thread, it was claimed in an aside that the US mainstream news media, including PBS, was "leftist".
There was a vain attempt made, by several posters, to point out to the claimant that the news outlets mentioned were generally centrist, not leftist, and that their own far-right position made them think that everything left of their own view was "leftist".
I myself asked the claimant the obvious question, "CBS, ABC, NBC, and PBS are all Communist news media?"
...because, to me, "leftist" means "Communist".
I am hoping that someone (hopefully the claimant) can show how the US mainstream mnews media is truly leftist and not centrist.

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robinrohan
Inactive Member


Message 2 of 116 (332786)
07-18-2006 7:58 AM
Reply to: Message 1 by nator
07-18-2006 7:53 AM


because, to me, "leftist" means "Communist".
"leftist" just means liberal.

This message is a reply to:
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Replies to this message:
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RickJB
Member (Idle past 4991 days)
Posts: 917
From: London, UK
Joined: 04-14-2006


Message 3 of 116 (332792)
07-18-2006 8:06 AM
Reply to: Message 2 by robinrohan
07-18-2006 7:58 AM


This "leftist media" idea is always funny for Europeans to read, because on our scale most American media seems to sit very hard to the right (especially Fox). I'd even classify CNN as centre right.

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macaroniandcheese 
Suspended Member (Idle past 3928 days)
Posts: 4258
Joined: 05-24-2004


Message 4 of 116 (332793)
07-18-2006 8:08 AM
Reply to: Message 1 by nator
07-18-2006 7:53 AM


i don't think the religious right understands that left and right mean more than "crazy fundies" and "baby killers".
and there is no left in this country. the media is run by rich white guys (generally 'right') who market the "news" to people who will buy it. they don't care about accuracy, they care about making money and pleasing their investors. it just so happens that there is a seedy underbelly of democracy in this country. terrifying i know.
but then there really is no right in this country either. it's getting closer, but it's not really there. we skate just next to each other. i just wish we'd skate just next to each other a little tiny bit more this is the best i can do at the moment. it's not a placement, but a description.
Edited by brennakimi, : No reason given.

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macaroniandcheese 
Suspended Member (Idle past 3928 days)
Posts: 4258
Joined: 05-24-2004


Message 5 of 116 (332794)
07-18-2006 8:09 AM
Reply to: Message 2 by robinrohan
07-18-2006 7:58 AM


no, it doesn't.
it means socialist, anarchist, or communist.
but then i'd wager there's more than a few who fantasize that democrats are anarchists.
*giggles*
Edited by brennakimi, : No reason given.

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Coragyps
Member (Idle past 735 days)
Posts: 5553
From: Snyder, Texas, USA
Joined: 11-12-2002


Message 6 of 116 (332832)
07-18-2006 9:46 AM
Reply to: Message 1 by nator
07-18-2006 7:53 AM


The only leftist press that I'm aware of are the few "progressive" publications like Mother Jones and The Village Voice. The New York Times might be half a bubble left of center these last few years if measured against the other big print media, but certainly not "leftist."

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Discreet Label
Member (Idle past 5064 days)
Posts: 272
Joined: 11-17-2005


Message 7 of 116 (332857)
07-18-2006 10:58 AM
Reply to: Message 4 by macaroniandcheese
07-18-2006 8:08 AM


and there is no left in this country. the media is run by rich white guys (generally 'right') who market the "news" to people who will buy it. they don't care about accuracy, they care about making money and pleasing their investors. it just so happens that there is a seedy underbelly of democracy in this country. terrifying i know.
I would be a little disinclined to agree with this. But then again I don't know enough about PBS. But from my understanding is that PBS is not owned or operated by rich white guys, nor are its member stations owned by rich white guys, but by more independant people. Also PBS is operated via council where it is not necessairly run by a rich white guy. Currently though, as i understand it, the CEO of PBS is a rich white guy.
And on top of that the investors of PBS are not out for profit (again to my understanding they are run by private donations, industrial donations and federal grants). And also to my understanding is that the Federal government created PBS, but tried to minimize anykind of influence it had within PBS beyond general funds for programming.

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berberry
Inactive Member


Message 8 of 116 (332864)
07-18-2006 11:26 AM


Fox News
I think we're seeing the influence of the Fox News channel on people. Before this latest Middle East crisis broke FNC was spending hour after hour, night after night condemning the New York Times as leftist, often using "discussion panels" concisting of anywhere from 3 to 5 republicans and up to 1 democrat to hammer home the anti-Times message. Enthusiastic viewers of the channel picked that message up loud and clear and are now attempting to spread it to the masses. Hmmmm, who else does stuff like that?
I think we could turn Ann Coulter's premise on its head and suggest that Fox News is a religion. It has it's own Christ-figure in George Bush, a rightous lord and saviour who is under constant attack from the pharisees at the New York Times and Countdown with Keith Olbermann. It has apostles in Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Cal Thomas and John Gibson. Greta plays the role of the Virgin Mary and Ann Coulter herself gets to gender-bend in the double role of Mary Magdeline and the Apostle Paul.

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Mespo
Member (Idle past 2885 days)
Posts: 158
From: Mesopotamia, Ohio, USA
Joined: 09-19-2002


Message 9 of 116 (332868)
07-18-2006 11:55 AM
Reply to: Message 8 by berberry
07-18-2006 11:26 AM


At what point does news get "direction"
1. A suicide bomber blows himself up in a Bagdad market. The explosive used contained Right / Center / Left components?
2. A rapist in New York abducts a women with his van using the Left driver door / Center back door / Right passenger door?
3. An Israeli jets attacks a Hezbollah stronghold and hits the Christian family living on the Right / the Center of the Hezbolla stronghold / a Shiite mosque on the Left.
4. Gas prices rise in the U.S. and a commuter gets off the freeway and goes to a Shell station on the Left / a BP station straight ahead / an Amoco station on the Right?
Or are we just talking about political talking heads and editorial writers?
(:raig

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Faith 
Suspended Member (Idle past 1445 days)
Posts: 35298
From: Nevada, USA
Joined: 10-06-2001


Message 10 of 116 (332869)
07-18-2006 11:56 AM
Reply to: Message 1 by nator
07-18-2006 7:53 AM


Goldberg's book "Bias"
"Leftist" is how we rightists identify liberals of all degrees, because we know they got their orientation from the Marxist left through the universities, which are dominated by the 60s generation.
Anyway, there was a book written on the subject of media bias to the left, by one Bernard Goldberg, formerly of CBS. Here's a rightist review from
NewsMax on Goldberg's book, Bias
It is OK to slur fundamentalist Christians. But anyone making a similar disparaging comment about any of the "politically correct” minority groups would have been dismissed.That is Bernard Goldberg’s point, laid out in 223 pages of his new book, "Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News” (Regnery).
This is not Rush Limbaugh complaining for the 100th time of "bias in the liberal media.”This comes from the pen of a man who was a correspondent for CBS News, having worked inside the company for 28 years...
Goldberg, who spent his last years at CBS in the doghouse for his 1996 Wall Street Journal piece, says that if these correspondents were to take a lie detector test as to whether they slanted the news leftward, they would deny it and pass with flying colors.
Many of them don’t consider that they’re leaning in any political direction. They really think they are simply mainstream. There is no other side of the argument except what you hear from a few right-wing nut cases. In their world, mainstream conservatism doesn’t exist.
As one Washington news correspondent once said to me, "There is no left wing.” There’s just normal goodness, as opposed to the extremists.

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berberry
Inactive Member


Message 11 of 116 (332874)
07-18-2006 12:08 PM
Reply to: Message 10 by Faith
07-18-2006 11:56 AM


Re: Goldberg's book "Bias"
I've read the book and I think that review is on the cover flap. Goldberg makes some strong points for liberal bias at CBS, but equally strong points can be made about the right-wing bias at Fox or NewsMax. As for the review, it draws some extremely broad conclusions:
Many of them don’t consider that they’re leaning in any political direction.
And many of them don't. There are journalists on the left and right who have shown that they can lay their biases aside and cover a story objectively. Some news organizations honestly strive to do this and some don't.
They really think they are simply mainstream.
And some are.
There is no other side of the argument except what you hear from a few right-wing nut cases. In their world, mainstream conservatism doesn’t exist.
What media is he talking about, The Nation? Okay. The Fox Report? I don't think so.

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jar
Member (Idle past 395 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


Message 12 of 116 (332880)
07-18-2006 12:19 PM
Reply to: Message 10 by Faith
07-18-2006 11:56 AM


Re: Goldberg's book "Bias"
"Leftist" is how we rightists identify liberals of all degrees, because we know they got their orientation from the Marxist left through the universities, which are dominated by the 60s generation.
And your evidence for that is what exactly? Is it as solid as your evidence for the Flood, or Exodus or Young Earth or the Fall?
Or is it simply another really silly statement that you toss out there as though it had any validity?

Aslan is not a Tame Lion

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Replies to this message:
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Faith 
Suspended Member (Idle past 1445 days)
Posts: 35298
From: Nevada, USA
Joined: 10-06-2001


Message 13 of 116 (332888)
07-18-2006 12:31 PM
Reply to: Message 11 by berberry
07-18-2006 12:08 PM


Re: Goldberg's book "Bias"
Certainly NewsMax is right wing. Fox, while it's one of the very few news sources where you can find a right wing perspective, is far from consistently right wing. However, both of these came into being BECAUSE of left wing bias in the mainstream media. And we rightists are deeply grateful to radio talk shows and to the internet where we can connect with many others who agree with us, whose voices are otherwise drowned out and ridiculed in the mainstream media.
It's MAINSTREAM media that are being identified as left wing. ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, PBS and NPR. PBS picks up on the BBC, also left wing. And just about every newspaper in the country.
You can't just SAY so many of the media are mainstream or centrist in their views as you do, agreeing with their self-assessment, since Goldberg documented their leftwing comments. You have to give evidence.
Edited by Faith, : No reason given.
Edited by Faith, : No reason given.
Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

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Faith 
Suspended Member (Idle past 1445 days)
Posts: 35298
From: Nevada, USA
Joined: 10-06-2001


Message 14 of 116 (332890)
07-18-2006 12:37 PM
Reply to: Message 12 by jar
07-18-2006 12:19 PM


Re: Goldberg's book "Bias"
It isn't my evidence, it's Goldberg's, according to the review. He documents the Ivy League backgrounds of the major news pundits, Ivy League being leftist. Heck, jar, I know a Marxist when I hear one. I dated one in college. I married a liberal with Marxist sympathies. I was surrounded by them.
Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

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berberry
Inactive Member


Message 15 of 116 (332898)
07-18-2006 12:53 PM
Reply to: Message 13 by Faith
07-18-2006 12:31 PM


Re: Goldberg's book "Bias"
Indeed, Goldberg did document his assertions of left-wing bias at CBS. I noticed that bias ages ago, and aside from an infrequent viewing of 60 Minutes, I don't get my news from CBS. I'm not qualified to comment on any bias they might still have there because I don't watch them. I don't know much about ABC or CNN either, so I'll take your word for it that you see left-wing bias there. However, I take issue with your assertions of left-wing bias at PBS, NBC - and I suppose by extension MSNBC - and NPR. The only left-wing bias I can think of from any of those sources would be found in clearly-labelled opinion pieces or opinion shows.
I'd like to see some examples of what you consider biased reporting from these sources.

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