"What Liberal media"??

[judyvillecco]

You are welcome Gimpy! Sounds like our Mr. Bennett has the attitude of Marie Antionette.... I've come to the same conclusion with the Bush brothers! Let them eat cake! Har-de-Har! (I'll pay for that one! Did I say that?)

[SuperScout]

Beware of the bait and switch game that is being played. First, the liberals start trying to dispel the truth about how biased the press is, tossing out the tainted opinions of a fellow traveler. Then, when the discussions turns against them, they switch to another subject when they realized they have been upstaged, outgunned, and outsmarted, are rather simple task, all things considered. So the big switch is attempted by baiting the conversation matter with another topic. In fact, one of them has gotten so good at this tactic, that he has progressed from the ranks of mere apprentice baiter to that of.........


Master Baiter.

[blues clues]

Well if we do switch to another subject that's ok, at least we can find other subjects to talk about! All I know is if you live in a glass house don't throw rock's because someone might throw them back at you.
razz

[Gimpy]

Somethings REALLY start to "stink" around here, ya know? Could it be that SuperStinker (and his "other intellectual" pals" are having difficulty admitting their "poster boy" of right-wing rhetoric is a hypocrite?? Naw--SURELY not!

And, correct me if I'm wrong---but wasn't one of Bennets foremost "activities"to go on "media" talk shows and newsgroups organizations functions and "preach" his (and the Kornsurvatives) brand of "morality" to the public at large??

Now if THAT is NOT media "bias"---just what in the hell is it???
Especially when Rush, Sean, George, etc, etc, etc,. are "promoting" and defending this jerk.

Want more on "media bias"--check THIS out.

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Alterman's book is a touchstone of truth amidst the dross of mad rants by manic GOP "pundit celebrities." Alterman, for instance, documents how the Wall Street Journal "editors are so deeply committed to the far-right propaganda they espouse, they frequently contradict the reporting in their own newspaper." Armed with 40 pages of footnotes, Alterman vanquishes any notion of a liberal press. What we are left with is a media that serves as a propaganda news outlet for the right wing of the Republican party. The modern D.C. journalist, for the most part, is really a public relations writer for the White House. Even if you've known how "in the tank" the media is with the Republican Party, this book will get you even angrier. When you finish, make a commitment to voice your objections to the media as often as you can.

More about "What Liberal Media?" | back to top

The question of whose interests the media protects -- and how -- has achieved holy-grail-like significance. Is media bias keeping us from getting the whole story? If so, who is at fault? Is it the liberals who are purported to be running the newsrooms, television and radio stations of this country, duping an unsuspecting public into mistaking their party line for news? Or is it the conservatives who have identified media bias as a reliably inflammatory rallying cry around which to consolidate their political base as they cynically "work the refs?" The media has become so pervasive in our lives that regardless of exactly where on the ideological fence you sit, the question of media bias has become all but unavoidable.

Most of the criticism (and anger) has so far emanated from the political Right, which has offered us the rather unconvincing argument that a systematic Left bias is destroying the quality of news and debate in our country today. Journalist and historian Eric Alterman begs to differ.

What Liberal Media? confronts the question of liberal bias and, in so doing, provides a sharp and utterly convincing assessment of the realities of political bias in the news. In distinct contrast to the conclusions reached by Ann Coulter, Bernard Goldberg, Sean Hannity, and Bill O'Reilly, Alterman finds the media to be, on the whole, far more conservative than liberal, though it is possible to find evidence for both views. The fact that conservatives howl so much louder and more effectively than liberals is one significant reason that big media is always on its guard for "liberal" bias but gives conservative bias a free pass.

After reading What Liberal Media? you will understand that the real news story of recent years is not whether this newspaper, or that news anchor, is biased but rather to what extent the entire news industry is organized to communicate conservative views and push our politics to the right-regardless of how "liberal" any given reporter may be.

What People Are Saying about "What Liberal Media?" | back to top

"The myth of the liberal media is an idea that is gaining currency; this is a strong opening salvo in that much-needed discussion."
-- Ilene Cooper, Booklist, American Library Association

"The incredulity begins with the title What Liberal Media?, journalist Eric Alterman's refutation of widely flung charges of left-wing bias, and never lets up. The book is unlikely to make many friends among conservative media talking heads. Alterman picks apart charges made by Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, George Will, Sean Hannity, and others (even the subtitle refers to a popular book by former CBS producer Bernard Goldberg that argues a lefty slant in news coverage). But the perspectives of less-incendiary figures, including David Broder and Howard Kurtz, are also dissected in Alterman's quest to prove that not only do the media lack a liberal slant but that quite the opposite is true. . . . For liberals hoping someone will take off the gloves and mix it up with the verbal brawlers of the right, Eric Alterman is a champion."
-- John Moe for Amazon.com.

"Alterman . . . seeks to debunk the notion [of a liberal bias in media] and goes so far as to argue that bastions of alleged liberalism like the Washington Post and ABC News 'have grown increasingly cowed by false complaints of liberal bias and hence, progressively more sympathetic to the most outlandish conservative complaints.' He largely succeeds: whatever your politics, Alterman delivers well-documented, well-argued research in compulsively readable form."
-- Publisher's Weekly

About the Author of "What Liberal Media?" | back to top

Eric Alterman currently writes the "Stop the Presses" media column for The Nation and the "Altercation" web log for MSNBC.com. In recent years, he has been a contributing editor to, or columnist for Worth, Rolling Stone, Elle, Mother Jones, World Policy Journal, and The Sunday Express (London). His Sound and Fury: The Making of the Punditocracy (1992/2000), won the 1992 George Orwell Award and his It Ain't No Sin To Be Glad You're Alive: The Promise of Bruce Springsteen (1999), won the 1999 Stephen Crane Literary Award. He is also the author of Who Speaks for America? Why Democracy Matters in Foreign Policy (1998), and When Presidents Lie: Deception and Its Consequences, which is forthcoming. A senior fellow of the World Policy Institute at New School University, and an affiliated faculty member in the magazine journalism program at New York University, Alterman received his B.A. in History and Government from Cornell, his M.A. in International Relations from Yale, and his Ph.D. in U.S. History from Stanford. He was born in Queens, New York and lives with his family in Manhattan.

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[Gimpy]

"Upstaged"?? maybe.---"Outgunned"?? Possibly---"Outsmarted"--not in YOUR lifetime--NOWAY JOSE". It Ain't gonna happen!

Have a nice day!

[judyvillecco]

I know when I watch that dog and pony show Hannity and his lap dog they call a democrat I know Fox is Biased. You have to watch other channels to get a change but they all say the same thing. And MSNBC is running a close second by putting our former congressman media hound Scarborough show on. Where is the old reporting we used to see when Kennedy was alive. Now we are told to shut up or we are not real patriots. Please! Keep the heat Gimpy. Ann Coulter is about as extreme as they get! What happened to open minds? Now we hear shut up if you can't support our president blah blah. And if Bennett is a liar tell the truth. What happened to us asking hard questions? If the mind police want to censor us it won't happen. Not as long as some of us are alive. :re:

[reconeil]

Not to worry. I've never even been taken-in by THE REAL PROS and/or word-manipulating/twisting Liberals on TV over the years. Hell, I recognized that "They" were 2 flat-out-lying-phonies (re. The Clintons) on TV, about a year before: "Old Slick" was even elected.

So, and in that context and even though amateurs also like to drone on and on religiously regarding The French/German/Russian/UN/Liberal Party Line, I'll stick to my guns. After all, and if just for National Survival alone, I figure that America and Americans will fair much better with Right-Wing Conservatism, than with Left-Wing Leftists in total control, any day of the week.

Besides, Conservatism is infinitely more believable, sensible, logical and pragmatic also. Plus, being on the paying end most of my life, the: "Pragmatic" part impresses me most. So, and to Dems/Libs/Socialists forever wanting more and more and more of MY/OUR money,...I say screw you ONE & ALL my friends, and I guess: "We'll just have to agree to disagree".

Neil

P.S. SuperS
I loved the way you promoted an: "Apprentice baiter".
Does such a promotion have stripes or bars?

[blues clues]

Gimpy, I always know when you get to the right wing-nuts the only thing they can do is run down Clinton after all he was elected two time where as bush hasn't been elected once yet (slected maybe) but not elected.
razz

[reconeil]

This blasphemous of Lordly-Leftists and/or "Right wing nut" started running-down The Phony Clintons long before: "His Slickness" and cohorts were ever elected. Plus, the antics of Clinton and associates themselves did more to: "Run-down" the Dems/Libs, than I could ever do in a million years.

Though, and in fairness, Old Bill must have really cracked-the-books during his retirement. "He" now seems to be coming-on like a foreign affairs expert. Wow! STILL, and especially since his unarguable fiasco in Somalia,...I don't see why the fool STILL favors The UN handling things in Iraq? Maybe The Draft Dodger STILL despizes The U.S. Military? It surely seems so.

Regardless, and since not "Connected", such gives me-the-edge and the luxury of being honest and speaking of realities instead. I don't have to perpetually bluster The Dem/Lib/Socialist Party Line, such as is robotically dictated doing so by staunch and obedient followers like Gimpy and Razz.

Also, and besides being A Free American,...I've also grown-up.

Neil

[SuperScout]

Oh the sheer joy of seeing the bastion of liberal bias, diversity/stupidity and affirmative action, the infamous New York Times, get bit in their self-righteous arse by reality. Their former two-bit liar of a reporter, who was hired and retained only because of diversity, a cause sponsored, endorsed and promulgated by the NYT, is a perfect example of biased press, bad management (or actually, the lack thereof), and liberal ideas. But the sad fact, other than the lack of integrity on the part of the reporter, is the even more shocking lack of accountability on the part of management, who, knowing of the reporter's lies and misfeasance, refused to fire him (gasp! do you possibly think that becasue he was Black, they couldn't fire him?) and let him continue his fraud.

Gee whiz, and by golly: reading all those impressive credentials of Alterman, and his list of alma maters: do you really suspect that he might be a liberal, just for starters, so would that possibly taint or corrupt his tome about liberalism in the press? Naah, not a chance.....

And you, over there in the left corner, picking more stones to throw, can you point with something other than your ever-increasing lengthy noses, where it is written that gambling is a sin? Study as I might, I can't seem to find anything about the subject in the Gospels, but then maybe one of you upstanding Biblical scholars can point me in the right direction.