What Liberal Media? (Deux)

I ask, What Liberal Media? If it exists, please point it out… I’m desperately seeking the liberal counterpart to F(au)x News and can’t find any trace of one.

Here’s a clear example of something that should’ve had more traction in the media (from the third presidential debate):

KERRY: Yes. When the president had an opportunity to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, he took his focus off of them, outsourced the job to Afghan warlords, and Osama bin Laden escaped.

Six months after he said Osama bin Laden must be caught dead or alive, this president was asked, “Where is Osama bin Laden? ” [Bush] said, “I don’t know. I don’t really think about him very much. I’m not that concerned.”

We need a president who stays deadly focused on the real war on terror.

SCHIEFFER: Mr. President?

BUSH: Gosh, I just don’t think I ever said I’m not worried about Osama bin Laden. It’s kind of one of those exaggerations.

HOWEVER!

We all know that, in fact, Mr. Bush was OUTRIGHT lying! (Surprise, surprise. Right!?) Well, let’s just think for one second what would have happened if Mr. Kerry had been the one caught in a BLATANT lie like Mr. Bush was.

1. Rush and his clones in talk radio would’ve talked themselves to dehydration
2. F(au)x News would’ve immediately gone into their SPECIAL ALERT mode
3. We would’ve seen all the brand-loyal Republicans beating us all over the head with it

BUT NO! Mr. Bush is caught in a blatant lie and there’s hardly any mention of it. By the way, for those that are not familiar with Mr. Bush’s quote, here it is:

Question: But don’t you believe that the threat that Bin Laden posed won’t truly be eliminated until he is found either dead or alive?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, as I say, we haven’t heard much from him. And I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s at the center of any command structure. And, again, I don’t know where he is. I — I’ll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him. I know he is on the run. [President Bush, Press Conference, 3/13/02]

Of course, every time there’s an attack on our troops in Iraq we hear how the Iraqi insurgents are now increasingly linked to Al Queda and how their local leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is affiliated with Bin Laden. The question must be asked, if Bin Landen had been captured in Afghanistan during the war, and if we had still gone into Iraq, would our troops be seen the same level of resistence that they’re witnessing in Iraq?

—————————————

K.I.A. in Iraq 1101 — regrettably, when I posted the figure about a month and a half ago the count was 932.

The So-Called Liberal Media

1. The so-called liberal media are just a bunch of fucking wimps that are just scared shitless about being labeled “liberal,” so they never expose the factual conservative dominance of our media industry.

2. Let me explain what I mean by “factual conservative dominance of our media industry.”

Basically, the conservative movement (through its various think-tanks, foundations, wealthy donors, etc.) learned to game the system/media some 30 years ago, when the conservative movement began its re-ascendance in our country (culminating in Mr. Reagan’s election and continuing to the present). (As reference, look up: The American Enterprise Institute, The Heritage Foundation and Cato Institute — there are others, but these are the principal ones, specially the American Enterprise Institute.)

Furthermore, conservatives of the 1950s and 1960s knew the following: A) They no longer belonged in the (Southern) Democratic party, as the party advocated Civil Rights and the enfranchisement of African Americans; B) They needed to jump ship, so they essentially hijacked the Republican party (note the lack of so-called Northern Rockefeller Republicans in today’s GOP); C) Conservatives of the period devised a strategy to flame the embers of White-male resentment against the politics of the late 1950s and 1960s, accordingly the Southern Strategy was born.

And this, essentially, is the genesis of the modern Republican party. Note how today’s Republican power base is contingent on these two factors: A) The South, and; B) Let’ say, the subtle, encouragement of White-male resentment against a popular culture that many of them feel rejects the White-male iconography.

Of course the preceding brushes over the past 40/50 years in very broad strokes, but I had to provide it as background to support how the “factual conservative dominance of our media industry” has occurred.

i. The conservative movement has laid down a well disciplined, and well funded, infrastructure that’s geared to challenge (and dismantle) the legitimacy of: academia, the news media and a certain brand of popular culture.

ii. To compete against academia, conservatives established think tanks and funded conservative intellectuals. Moreover, to challenge the news media conservative created what was, at the time, new media outlets: talk radio and direct mail (note that Republicans were the first to set up what still is the most extensive and sophisticated voter data-base in the country). Thirdly, popular culture is often used by conservatives to drive wedge issues among the electorate (i.e., homosexuality, feminism, guns, etc.).

iii. Its taken about three decades, but the combination of the factors I listed above have lead to what I referred to as Mr. Brock’s Republican Noise Machine model:

a. Talk radio is dominated by conservatives, which is where many of these stories originate. Accordingly, they give some buzz to whatever story they want to play up that day.

b. A network of quasi-news organizations (including right-wing blogs) provide some ink, to put some meat on the story and get things boiling.

c. Cable Network talking heads (i.e., Hardball, O’Rielly Factor, Sean Hannity, Scarborough, Miller, et al.) then pick up the story, once there’s enough of buzz behind it.

d. At this point the mainstream media is forced to run the story, since by now the item is “newsworthy.”

Now, the key part about the preceding model is this: After 30 years of a concerted and well organized effort to convince the public that the so-called liberal media cannot be trusted, journalists and the public have complete internalized this notion, and don’t even challenge the assumption. Furthermore, it is under these conditions that “Liberal” has become a “dirty word” and, conversely, “Conservative” has become the preferred ideological label for a significant segment of the public, specially White-males. So, finally, we have a system wherein American journalists are afraid to be perceived as having a liberal-bias, for fear of proving the myth true; and, the general public simply assumes that they know what they know, and simply assume that the so-called liberal media must have a liberal bias.

3. Because strong ideological conservatives in the media know that what I have described is true, they know that the wimpy mainstream media journalist will not mount a direct and frontal challenge on the conservative modus operandi. And, if such a challenge were to be raised, conservatives in the media (and the public) would simply charge such journalists as being liberals, thus proving the myth; and, unfortunately, a lot of members of the public would simply accept the charge without questioning it.

Now, here’s what I wrote in another post about the true media bias:

“[T]he media is driven by “commercial” and “sensationalistic” interests, and not by a so-called liberal bias. All of us — all U.S. citizens — have much to complain about regarding the media, and the terrible job they’re doing of covering substantive issues.”

I also offered the following as sources for further reading, and to provide an alternative view-point on what we think we already know:

• Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
• Media Matters for America
• The Republican Noise Machine
• Control Room (documentary on how the Iraq war was covered by U.S. vs. Middle Eastern media)
• Out Foxed (documentary on the inner workings of the Fox News operation)
• What Liberal Media?
• Manufacturing Consent (summery)

Story Behind Bush Memos

Oh man, this is just too easy — now let’s just see if the so-called liberal media exposes the blatant bias of the originating source behind the “forgery” story.

First, a little background on the Republican Noise Machine, here’s how it works:

1. Talk radio is dominated by conservatives, which is where many of these stories originate. Accordingly, they give some buzz to whatever story they want to play up that day.

2. A network of quasi-news organizations (including right-wing blogs) provide some ink, to put some meat on the story and get things boiling.

3. Cable Network talking heads (i.e., Hardball, O’Rielly Factor, Sean Hannity, Scarborough, Miller, et al.) then pick up the story, once there’s enough buzz behind the story.

4. At this point the mainstream media is forced to run the story, since by now the item is “newsworthy.”

Of course, the so-called liberal media are just a bunch of fucking wimps that are just scared shitless of being labeled “liberal,” so they never expose the tactical conservative dominance of our media industry. Anyhow, I seriously doubt that I can convince many of this (as you know what you know, and are not about to change your mind); however, I just wanted to offer this backgrounder before getting into the suspicious facts behind the source of this story.

1. CNSNews.com runs story [ link ]:

2. Matt Drudge posts a link to the story on his site (note that the DrudgeReport.com website is one of the most widely visited websites on the web):

3. I presume that this story has been getting a lot of airtime in the talking heads circuit (I’ve not tuned in to cable news today, but the model is pretty solid, so I assume that the talking heads have had a field day with this story).

4. At this point the mainstream media (a.k.a., the so-called liberal media) has to pick up the story, since it’s “newsworthy.”

Now, here’s some suspicious info on the source behind this story:

1. CNSNews.com is run and operated by the Media Research Center:

[ Who Is link may not work as its session specific. ]

2. The mission statement of the Media Research Center (MRC) reads:

“On October 1, 1987, a group of young determined conservatives set out to not only prove – through sound scientific research – that liberal bias in the media does exist and undermines traditional American values, but also to neutralize its impact on the American political scene. What they launched that fall is the now acclaimed — Media Research Center (MRC).”

And:

“That moved MRC founder and president, L. Brent Bozell III, to take the necessary steps to develop the MRC’s News Tracking System (NTS), a custom-designed computer database and archiving system that today provides the conservative movement’s now-thriving media personalities and the public alike, with the evidence necessary to confront the liberal media. This one-of-a-kind research operation combines analytical savvy with state-of-the-art computer technology, providing the means to scientifically track the short and long-range trends of any issue in the media. From a $339,000 initial annual budget, the MRC has grown to be the nation’s largest and most sophisticated television and monitoring operation, now employing 60 professional staff with a $6 million annual budget.” [ link ]

3. Moreover, the MRC offers the Drudge Report as one of their trusted sources for information [link]:

Now, many will simply say, Yeah, we gotta stick it to the liberal media, and that’s just what MRC is doing. Well, that rationalization may be sufficient for many, but to me it simply proves the validity of the Republican Noise Machine model and how, in fact, the media is dominated by a strong conservative tactical bias.

As David Brock, author of the Republican Noise Machine noted (and I paraphrase), It’s not important that Republicans get the facts right, it’s only important that they throw up enough mud to cloud the truth.

Now, let’s just see if the so-called liberal media covers this part of the story.

Radio Interview with James Wolcott

Just heard an interesting interview (Real Player) with James Wolcott, author of Attack Poodles and Other Media Mutants : The Looting of the News in a Time of Terror.

Mainstream media (CNN, FOX, CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS, et al.) = Lap Dogs of the Right.

Why Bush Can’t Say No

Here’s the reason why Mr. Bush will not condemn the group doing his dirty little work of character assassination:

For the first time this year in a [L.A.] Times survey, Bush led Kerry in the presidential race, drawing 49 percent among registered voters, compared to 46 percent for the Democrat.

And…

Although a solid majority of Americans say they believe Kerry served honorably in Vietnam, the poll showed that the fierce attacks on the senator from a group of Vietnam veterans criticizing both his performance in combat and anti-war protests at home have left some marks[.]
Bush Overtakes Kerry in Latest L.A. Times Poll [August 25, 2004]

Mr. Bush & Co. know that gutter-politics works, in spite of how much the public complains about it; since there’s always a number of people that’s predisposed to buy the lies, no matter how baseless the charges are.

Here’s just one Associated Press article not getting anywhere near the same air time as the dirty charges made by Mr. Bush & Co., the headline reads: Navy records appear to support Kerry’s version [August 25, 2004].

Of course, Mr. Bush will not condemn the group doing his work; because he knows that there are dividends — consequences be damned. Just ask Mr. McCain. He knows how Bush & Co. operate, and the sort of dirty, nasty, stab-in-the-back ploys they use to stomp on the character of good and honorable men: just look at what Mr. Bush & Co. did to Mr. McCain during the 2000 Republican primary. Here’s Mr. McCain confronting Mr. Bush at the time.

My hat’s off to Mr. Bush & Co., however; because they’ve managed to distract us from far more important things going-on in our own time, not 35 years ago. Just today I read this: Distraught father torches self in Marine van. Florida man received news son had been killed in Iraq combat. [August 25, 2004]. About a week ago I posted the U.S. death toll in Iraq, it then stood at 936; the figure now stands at 967.

I’m hopeful that the American public will see through the lies of Mr. Bush & Co., and send him packing to his Crawford, TX, compound. Then, while Mr. Kerry gets on with the business of fixing the mess that Mr. Bush created, Republicans can focus on their own house. Perhaps they can start with the recommendations made by Mr. Buchanan in his book: Where the Right Went Wrong : How Neoconservatives Subverted the Reagan Revolution and Hijacked the Bush Presidency. [Amazon Link]