Why does the press hate Republicans and how do they get away with it?
I am probably going to be blasted by this question for two reasons; first it probably should be in IMHO, second, the question itself.
It seems to me that the media (CNN, Time, ABC, NBC etc, etc) never have a good thing to say about the Republican Party or Republicans, either former office holders like president Bush, Reagan etc, or current Office holders. The reporting definitely seems slanted to me.
My questions are: How do they get away with this? Is this legal? Am I just misinterpreting this?
Just for the record, I am not affiliated with either party. I vote for the best person for the job (Which rather restricts when, or if, I can vote, I hate that)
Simple answer: they don’t. Have you seen all the hoopla about the Convention? I saw a lot of unbiased reporting. Even NPR, one of the more liberal sources of news, did a lot of in-depth even-handed reporting. Of course there’s op-eds (and TV shows that function as such) and the occaisional flippant comment, but in general, they don’t. But even if they did, it’s obviously legal. They can report however they feel like. Freedom of the press…
I’m convinced that this bias is the largest single reason the mainstream press also hates/fears the internet at heart. When a 13-year old boy’s website in Scranton has the potential to reach the same audience as abcnews.com, something must be wrong with America (in their view).
IIRC, the early view of the vast liberal media was that the internet needed serious government intervention so that “news” sites could not compete with and draw away “viewers” from the establishment. This was done under the guise of ensuring “accountability” and “responsible journalism”, topics which amazingly have never been a serious concern before for TV and print media. Another one of the “dirty little secrets” of being a liberal in the US.
IMO, their efforts for legislation failed miserably for two reasons - a Republican-controlled Congress, and a serious misunderstanding by technologically illiterate liberals in the media biz of the internet actually is. Now I’m not putting forth that the Republican Congress was interested in saving the internet, it’s just how it turned out.
Although the above is me demonizing liberals, I also demonize conservatives just the same. I think you can take half the liberal view, half the conservative view, and mash them together to make a pretty well-rounded policy. IMO.
Anthracite: what the heck are you talking about? What does this have to do with liberals? What does this have to do with disliking the GOP? I’ve been a steadfast liberal all my life, and nobody’s ever said a word about anything of that nature to me. This is as much part of the “liberal agenda” as deregulting the feather color of Mississippian chickens with at least three vowels in the owner’s last name.
I’ll second BobT’s recommendation. Please go to the ‘Liberal’ Media thread. Follow the links there. The more people we can disabuse of this silly notion of liberal bias, the better.
(In particular, look at the quote on page four, where one of the most influential conservatives in the magazine industry offers his opinion about the ‘liberal’ media.)
I remember when I was kid in the late sixties and early seventies (end of the Vietnam war era), the media was incredibly biased toward the liberal ideology. Even at that early age, I could see the transparent attempts at telling the audience what to think, and it was pathetic and disgusting. It’s one of the reasons I lean to the right (well, slightly) to this day.
To be fair, I have to say it’s not as bad now. Mainstream media has a harder time distorting what people have said (at least partly because of the internet). It is cheaper and easier for someone to get their message out in their own words, no matter who they are or what resources they have, than it used to be. There is still some bias, though, to my eyes.
As for how they get away with it, why wouldn’t they? EVERY business has its culture, often including a political ideology, and people who mesh with it tend to do well and advance to positions of power. Those who don’t, don’t. The generation in control of the media now are the bright-eyed idealists who joined the fourth estate in the wake of Woodward and Bernstein and the anti-war movement, in order to better society. Guess what their ideology is?
Perhaps they hate them because after 5 months, those damned Republicans still can’t see clear to post their threads in the proper forum, even if they know better. Oh, no, wait. That’s not Republicans, that’s you.
You think I’m going to move this thread for you. I am not. This thread is closed, and you are not to open another thread in GQ for one week.