Liberal News Media

Liberal News Media.

Several years ago, I read a book called, “What Liberal Media?” by Eric Alterman. I really enjoyed it. One point that Alterman made was that, while the rank and file of the frontline beat reporters may be liberal, the editorial board of most media outlets, along with the ownership tend to be moderate, if not conservative.

Alterman made a great point about the fairness doctrine. Back in the day, you had to provide equal time for political commentary. In other words, when Rush Limbaugh and Shawn Hannity apologize for the administration for six hours on the radio, under the old standard, ratings or not, the station would have to provide six hours for people to counter their partisan ramblings. The point is that, at one point, fair and balanced reporting mattered more than ratings. And, just to pre-empt you, dear reader, just because someone says that they are “fair and balanced” does not make it so…no matter how many times they say it!

I think that if there was any doubt whether the news media was tilting to the right came last week when news commentator Tony Snow was named White House Press Secretary. Off the top of my head, I don’t know that I can remember a sitting member of what is reported to be the national media being named press secretary. Further, I think this is more evidence that commentary and opinion are now passing for news.