Evidence of rightwing mass media bias abounds. Most in the corporate media support the current Bush Administration - as they supported his father's, Reagan's and Nixon's. The media almost universally endorsed Bush's rush to war, and every rush to war, by echoing lies to rally public support for war - and demonizing or ignoring opponents. This applies to every important political and economic issue.
by Mike Hersh
Some in the media occasionally question Republican lies, crimes and actions. However they do this only timidly and belatedly. The media dependably favor elite corporate priorities over the interests of regular Americans and oppose nearly every liberal political initiative from national health to living wages. We don't hear about this because the mass media don't tattle on themselves.
By contrast, the case for the "liberal media" is skimpy to the point of silly. The most often cited "evidence" relies on a poll of Washington, DC political beat reporters which showed most of them voted for Bill Clinton in 1996. President Clinton was a moderate, not a liberal. Therefore that poll shows most political reporters - not publishers or editors - voted for a mainstream centrist who ran against a continued Republican assault on Medicare, Medicaid, education and the environment. They didn't trust Bob Dole to protect the New Deal against Newt Gingrich's right wing wrecking ball. That doesn't prove the media have a liberal bias. So much for exhibit A.
Like most business owners and affluent people, media decision-makers favor right wing Republican candidates and policies. Still, right wingers escape derision and the label "conspiracy kooks" as they rail against the nonexistent "liberal media." Why? The media covers for right wingers for several reasons.
Hiding right-wing political and economic biases behind a moderate fa
