the myth of liberal media
The cord for my laptop died last week. So I had to migrate over to Matt's computer to keep up with current events. That was annoying, because the couch is way more comfortable than Matt's computer chair, and I am lazy.
In web surfing news, Hunter at Daily Kos has finally explained why conservatives continue to talk about the "liberal media," as though the media hasn't been, if not shilling for, at least allowing the atrocities of the Bush administration. Apparently, facts are liberal.
In general, liberals value journalism, or facts, and conservatives value punditry, or opinions. Far-right conservatives are indeed obsessed with the press, because they see the reporting of facts as being inherently "liberal".
It makes so much more sense now.
"The countermeasure that the Right demanded of the "mainstream" media...is that factual journalism include conservative opinions about the story at hand, as "balance" to the presumed slant of each article. And they got it, in spades: there are few stories in today's press that don't include a conservative talking point from a conservative think-tank-based talking head to balance even a patently obvious and accepted fact."
"Facts are explicitly liberal things in the national debate, in fact, and in that the movement sees facts everywhere, they therefore also see liberalism absolutely everywhere, threatening to rain down on them from every conceivable vantage point and profession.
"That is why the most vocal figures of the right are even now continually infuriated with the mainstream media in general, and why there is literally nothing which will satisfy them that no, the press is not actually out to get them. What the press sets out to do on its best days -- expose uncomfortable facts, question government statements and authority, and report meticulously on hidden problems or issues -- are exactly the behaviors that sets the right on edge."
"I could easily make the argument that science, journalism, and every reputable university campus in this nation is liberal, and is explicitly self-selectingly liberal at that. I could argue that intelligence, itself, is linked to liberalism, if I wanted to be a snot about it -- there is evidence to back the claim. But I could certainly, and without much argument, argue that universities and other institutions of learning may trend "liberal", and their resulting adherents seen as "liberal", simply because liberalism is a natural state of seeking progress and the basic advancement of known facts about the world."
"[The Right is] a movement that, from science to religion to journalism to government, is "faith based" to the point of proudly dismissing any inconvenient realities around them."
In web surfing news, Hunter at Daily Kos has finally explained why conservatives continue to talk about the "liberal media," as though the media hasn't been, if not shilling for, at least allowing the atrocities of the Bush administration. Apparently, facts are liberal.
In general, liberals value journalism, or facts, and conservatives value punditry, or opinions. Far-right conservatives are indeed obsessed with the press, because they see the reporting of facts as being inherently "liberal".
It makes so much more sense now.
"The countermeasure that the Right demanded of the "mainstream" media...is that factual journalism include conservative opinions about the story at hand, as "balance" to the presumed slant of each article. And they got it, in spades: there are few stories in today's press that don't include a conservative talking point from a conservative think-tank-based talking head to balance even a patently obvious and accepted fact."
"Facts are explicitly liberal things in the national debate, in fact, and in that the movement sees facts everywhere, they therefore also see liberalism absolutely everywhere, threatening to rain down on them from every conceivable vantage point and profession.
"That is why the most vocal figures of the right are even now continually infuriated with the mainstream media in general, and why there is literally nothing which will satisfy them that no, the press is not actually out to get them. What the press sets out to do on its best days -- expose uncomfortable facts, question government statements and authority, and report meticulously on hidden problems or issues -- are exactly the behaviors that sets the right on edge."
"I could easily make the argument that science, journalism, and every reputable university campus in this nation is liberal, and is explicitly self-selectingly liberal at that. I could argue that intelligence, itself, is linked to liberalism, if I wanted to be a snot about it -- there is evidence to back the claim. But I could certainly, and without much argument, argue that universities and other institutions of learning may trend "liberal", and their resulting adherents seen as "liberal", simply because liberalism is a natural state of seeking progress and the basic advancement of known facts about the world."
"[The Right is] a movement that, from science to religion to journalism to government, is "faith based" to the point of proudly dismissing any inconvenient realities around them."