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Holding Conservative Media's Feet to the Flame

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Sat Jun 17, 2006 at 11:39:40 AM EST
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Jamison Foser of Media Matters has the must read article of the day. He writes about why progressives should make the media the defining issue of our times.

I just finished being on a panel "Leakers and the Press" at the American Constitution Society convention in D.C. There was one conservative law professor, Maimon Schwarzchild, on the panel, which also included Law Prof Geoff Stone, 9th Circuit Justice Stephen Reinhardt and Constitutional and Media Law attorney Laura Handman.

Professor Shwarzchild asserted the mainstream media has an overly liberal bias. I challenged him on thatand asked him if he had read Lapdogs or What Liberal Media? I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to get a third reference in....it would have been to Media Matters.

The point being, it's a myth that there is liberal bias in the media. Read Media Matters and learn how to refute the myth with facts.

By the way, most of the ACS panel discussions are airing on C-Span this weekend. From Hillary Clinton's address on privacy violations to the NSA warrantless surveillance panel, the immigration panel and many others, you can learn far more truth about the unjust and in some cases illegal practices of the Bush Administration and judge for yourself how the media too often serves as a water carrier for Bush.

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    • Holding Conservative Media's Feet to the Flame | 12 comments (12 topical)
    Re: Holding Conservative Media's Feet to the Flame (none / 0) (#1)
    by soccerdad on Sat Jun 17, 2006 at 02:11:29 PM EST
    And how do you propose to hold their feet to the fire? There are no major liberal outlets capable of having an inpact. Until that's changed, its pretty much pointless as the Bush propaganda machine rolls on.

    Re: Holding Conservative Media's Feet to the Flame (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jun 17, 2006 at 02:56:00 PM EST
    One way might be to think about blogging a bit differently. Blogging can be more than media analysis and news criticism and response -- if you untethered really good reporters (people like Mark Danner) from the oppressive "Side A says X, Side B says Y... the end" format, and let them do primary source journalism without those pretensions, the so-called "netroots" movement would gain an incredible edge. There are too few forums for journalists to start saying that some sides are wrong, lying, that those "perspectives" fundamentally manipulate this form of "objective" reporting in the context of serious reporting (not op-eds or "news analysis"). I've been involved in a project that attempts to do that in the context of police brutality (The View From The Ground). With the changes in the perception of the media, after five years of doing this, we're actually getting more traction with the public. But there could and should be hundreds more sites like ours -- that use the tools and traditions of blogging to present primary-source, on the ground reporting.

    Re: Holding Conservative Media's Feet to the Flame (none / 0) (#3)
    by Lww on Sat Jun 17, 2006 at 04:51:00 PM EST
    Wouldn't it be amazing to see a report on the congress-people who just voted for the continuation of this war? Just get a little chart going and link their names to governments and companies that are profiteering off this disaster. It ain't gonna happen. More likely. Geraldo and Connie get a "Peoples Choice Award for Best Investigative Report That meant Absolutely Nothing. Like the bogus Plamegate.

    Re: Holding Conservative Media's Feet to the Flame (none / 0) (#4)
    by squeaky on Sat Jun 17, 2006 at 05:01:40 PM EST
    LWW-not exactly what you are looking for, but uggabugga does have some nifty charts. Like this for example.

    Re: Holding Conservative Media's Feet to the Flame (none / 0) (#5)
    by Lww on Sat Jun 17, 2006 at 05:58:54 PM EST
    Squeaky, My mother always said if it sucks don't let the poor devil know you know it sucks. Guess I missed it.

    Re: Holding Conservative Media's Feet to the Flame (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jun 17, 2006 at 07:00:46 PM EST
    Didn't the NY Times' Public Editor say that any comments that show having come from or been influenced by Media Matters were discarded?

    Re: Holding Conservative Media's Feet to the Flame (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Jun 18, 2006 at 03:41:03 AM EST
    Did you watch the Plame panel at Yearly Kos? Froomkin, whose opinion I trust, said that he thought that most of his collegues covering the WH were basically liberal and that they got scared off by the right meme on the 'evil liberal media.' That they don't tend to cover WH stories well because they are afriad their motivation will be challenged as politically based--coming from the left. The right won this one a long time ago when they turned liberal into a dirty word.

    Re: Holding Conservative Media's Feet to the Flame (none / 0) (#8)
    by cpinva on Sun Jun 18, 2006 at 06:04:19 AM EST
    first off, there are no "liberal" MSM outlets, they've all been co-opted, either by the extreme right wing, or their own laziness. second, sure, blogging, etc. may have some impact, but it'll be negligible in the grand scheme of things. why, you ask? fair question. simply put, only a very teenie, tiny % of people bother to read blogs, or get news online. in the end, it is, again, only a very small % of the voting populace who actually has a real clue, and they get drowned out by the hordes. air america is a beginning, but "they" have a two decade head start. it isn't going to happen by the mid-terms, or 2008.

    Re: Holding Conservative Media's Feet to the Flame (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Jun 18, 2006 at 11:51:45 AM EST
    If the media is unbiased where did all those Fox viewers come from? Shouldn't they have already been served? BTW media must be beholden to corporate interests. First off they are corporations. Second off they earn their money by serving successful businesses and corporations. So what does media need to profit? - Media consumers. Corporate patronage for advertising. Its policies will be pro-business even if it hires liberal reporters. This is elementry interest analysis. Something the left is supposed to be better at. Your best hope is alternative media. Unfortunately that is driving the party left while the electorate is moving right. If the KOSsacks are successful I think the Dems will lose 3 seats in '06. If they are wildly successful 5 seats. The party really needs to get back in touch with its Jacksonian tradition. Right now the party is purging the Jacksonians. Not good.

    Re: Holding Conservative Media's Feet to the Flame (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Jun 18, 2006 at 11:56:22 AM EST
    Let me try the link again: Jacksonian tradition.

    Re: Holding Conservative Media's Feet to the Flame (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Jun 18, 2006 at 01:01:31 PM EST
    cpinva, Blogs hit way above their weight because reporters read them. The Swifties got a big boost when the right blogs wouldn't let go. Likewise Rather. Plame on the left.

    Re: Holding Conservative Media's Feet to the Flame (none / 0) (#12)
    by Sailor on Sun Jun 18, 2006 at 01:36:00 PM EST
    except plame actually happened. faux news came about for the same reason retards listen to lamebaugh; they'd rather be lied to.

    Holding Conservative Media's Feet to the Flame | 12 comments (12 topical)