For The Eleventy-Billionth Time: There Is No Liberal Media Bias
For years, Republicans have been whining about a so-called liberal media bias. It’s familiar territory for those of us who follow American politics.
by Bob Cesca
WASHINGTON, DC – Elon Musk has joined the plot to accelerate a decades old scam. For years, Republicans have been whining about a so-called liberal media bias. It’s familiar territory for those of us who follow American politics. In fact, just the other day, not-the-guitarist-for-the-Eagles and former Republican congressman Joe Walsh tried to bring it up again on Twitter, repeating the same old lie that just because some journalists are Democrats, they automatically spin their reporting to suit a liberal agenda.
Walsh wrote, “Respectfully, there’s always been a ‘liberal bias’ in the media, and I’d say social media as well.”
Both of those things are untrue.
Before we dive in, I’m not interested in bashing Walsh. Even though he was a tea party Republican who participated in the political strategy that led to Trumpism, he’s making an effort to see things a different way, going so far as to identify as woke. Plus, based on personal experience, it takes time to change one’s political stripes.
That being said, he’s still wrong about the news media and he’s definitely wrong about social media.
First, let’s disabuse Joe of this liberal media myth.
The most popular cable news network is Fox News. Not liberal. Not even close.
The entire AM radio dial is owned by far-right Trump supporting Republicans. From Rush Limbaugh starting in the 1980s, to Dan Bongino, Alex Jones, Glenn Beck, and so many others today, AM radio is a constant companion to Red Hat disciples. They drive to and from work listening to it, they go to sleep with it – lord knows how much awfulness is subliminally pumped into their soft skulls while they sleep. Do not underestimate the power of radio, even now in the social media age. In fact, talk radio was the first social media platform, with its participatory call-in shows and brand loyalty.
The vast majority of Sunday shows are populated by Republican guests. During a three month study in 2018, Media Matters determined that only 8.8 percent of Sunday show guests “tilted left,” while 48.5 percent of guests tilted right. A similar 2016 study revealed that the Sunday shows were “overwhelmingly defined by the white, conservative men who appear on those shows much more often than other groups.”
An exhaustive 2020 study published by Science.org revealed:
Although a dominant majority of journalists identify as liberals/Democrats and many Americans and public officials frequently decry supposedly high and increasing levels of media bias, little compelling evidence exists as to (i) the ideological or partisan leanings of the many journalists who fail to answer surveys and/or identify as independents and (ii) whether journalists’ political leanings bleed into the choice of which stories to cover that Americans ultimately consume.
That’s the key to understanding the news media: many journalists might be liberal in their personal lives, but their reporting seldom if ever reflects a liberal agenda or bias. Indeed, many news outlets, such as NBC News, CNN, and CBS deliberately slant their guest bookings, not to mention how they question those guests, rightward in order to overcompensate against the accusation of a liberal bias.
And that’s the entire point of the myth: hector the news media until it artificially favors the conservative agenda.
The same thing appears to be happening with social media. For several years now, we’ve heard from the Red Hat entertainment complex how the various platforms are unfairly and unjustifiably “shadow banning” and de-platforming Republicans. Ever since Elon Musk paid $44 billion to become the world’s most ridiculous discussion forum admin, he’s been playing this game too, joined by Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss, all of whom are busily cherrypicking and sensationalizing discussions about normal content moderation during the pre-Elon era.
The truth, according to Twitter’s own 27-page internal study last year, is that the platform’s algorithm favored conservatives, not just in the U.S. but in other western nations.
The research found that in six out of seven countries, apart from Germany, tweets from rightwing politicians received more amplification from the algorithm than those from the left; right-leaning news organisations were more amplified than those on the left; and generally politicians’ tweets were more amplified by an algorithmic timeline than by the chronological timeline.
Say it with me now: there is no liberal bias. But conservatives continue to scream about it, enough to coax the social media platforms, as they did with the news media, to artificially slant everything rightward. That’s the goal.
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Additionally, Elon referred to the so-called liberal news media as “hall monitors” whom he prefers would leave the site altogether. I believe that’s his long term mission: by re-platforming and amplifying the reach of Nazis, QAnon adherents, Russian trolls, and other chaos agents, Elon is driving away scores of centrist, nonpartisan, liberal or left-leaning users, including politicians and media figures, transforming one of the world’s most powerful social media platforms into the exclusive messaging domain of bro-libertarianiam and Russia-friendly Trumpism. 8chan, basically.
So far, it appears to be working. Liberal users and politicians alike have lost thousands of followers, while Republicans such as Ted Cruz and Marjorie Taylor Greene have gained thousands of followers. This is one of many reasons why we need to stay put until the site collapses or someone else takes over. As I wrote two weeks ago: we can’t concede this ground to fascist idiocrats.
Stephen Colbert once said, “Reality has a well-known liberal bias.” What may appear liberal to people like Elon Musk or Joe Walsh might simply be a reflection of factual reality, especially when the Republican side of the aisle is so inundated with Trump-driven lies and contradictory gibberish.
The climate crisis is real. Civil rights, equality, and inclusiveness are the basis of the American experiment, of our unique melting pot culture. Pregnant people require reasonable and affordable access to abortion services. Democratic presidents have more often than not presided over economic expansion and reductions in the budget deficit. Progressive taxation is fair to every income level. Guns can be reasonably subjected to the same regulations we apply to other deadly retail items. Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are popular and crucial institutions worthy of protection. Saying so isn’t biased, it’s factual reality backed up by evidence – by history and math.
And the only way this will change is if we allow the myths and mythmakers to endure.
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Today I noticed the liberal media, and most media, have not reported on the Trump NFT scam, perhaps not to give publicity to what is positioned as a private venture versus a political one. But nobody seems to be reporting on the fact this is likely a scheme to launder $4.5 million of foreign (Russian, Saudi) dollars into Trump's coffers. 45,000 NFTs at $99 each from "individual donors" would likely skirt government watchdogs. Trump has already used real estate this way by selling overpriced offices and residences in his properties as a way to cleanly make a lot of money.
I think you made a lot of good points here. I'll play devil's advocate a little, presuming that you are as appreciative of critical feedback as I am.
The bit about talk radio--spot on. That was a frontier that was captured early on and held tight to be conservative programming. A look at the red/blue electoral map of the US by county explains this. In all of those wide open spaces where there are lots of people spread across many many miles, being serviced by those 10,000-watt radio flamethrowers, there are basically no liberals. The programming suits the audience, as is the case in all media.
We can think of bias as only the intentional kind--maybe better described as prejudice--but we can also consider bias in the statistical sense, the unconscious kind, which I think may find its way into this equation as well. I've read a really interesting case for this in the book "Bad News: How Woke Media is Undermining Democracy" by Batya Ungar-Sargon, where she posits that basically everyone (or at least a really large majority) in any of the journalistic departments at any of the major papers anymore are liberals. The case she made is that journalism is so expensive a career to get into (at least if you're shooting to write for one of those elite publications) that only rich kids do it. They can afford the unpaid internships, etc. that are required to build a resume. When everyone from the editor down to the reporter are liberals, the writing, including the choice of material, will reflect that.
Better summarize--already getting too long.
I think to anyone who has never lived in a big city, never ridden a subway or city bus, never worked in a multi-racial, multi-ethnic workplace of the kind you'll always find in a big city. People who shower after work, not before, and live in communities that are much more homogenous, the things that end up on their TV screens via ABC, CBS, NBC, probably the most middle-of-the-road sources on the air in terms of HOW they report their stories, often seem like things that just don't apply to them. I think that's a big part of the perceived bias.
I do think you're right that there is a "pull" created that says to coastal elite media programmers that they need to lean harder to the right, which means they think it's necessary to bolster their bottom-line.