Left, Right, or Wrong?

GOP pundits and right-wing media personalities paint a bleak picture: The media is controlled by liberal interests and the country is doomed to a skewed point of view. The GOP and their right-wing supporters have been making this claim for years. But just how true is it?

On casual observation of these trends, many believe that the following organizations are somewhat liberal to very liberal:

• Washington Post
• Associated Press
• CNN
• CBS
• NBC
• ABC
• New York Times
• NPR
• MSNBC

In depth study of reporting patterns shows something very different. While many of these outlets may champion some liberal OpEd writers or opinions, the editorial direction of the hard news and opinion peices is moderate to conservative – and getting more conservative every day.

Hard to believe? How about a few examples to demonstrate this. The following recent stories were either strongly conservative in their leanings or were purposely misleading resulting in benefiting a conservative agenda or GOP point of view:

Washington Post

The Post has published a slew of articles misleading on everything from Health Care Reform to the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here’s a few examples:

Wash. Post ignores ACORN filmmakers’ credibility problems

Eric Boehlert: Media: Angry right-wingers are important; angry libs are annoying

The Washington Post’s Non-Debate on Afghanistan

Debate, Washington Post Style

New York Times

NY Times , Baltimore Sun ignore possible illegality of ACORN videotapers’ actions

NYT ‘Fact Checks’ Obama

NYT Stands Up for the Little Insurance Company Employee

ABC, CBS, NBC

Network news largely silent on Fox News’ role in hyping, distorting ACORN story

ABC’s Sawyer whitewashes 9-12 protesters’ extremism

Media ignore GOP proposal that would cause many to lose insurance coverage for abortion

Associated Press

AP cites “sweetheart loan scandal” while ignoring that Ethics Committee cleared Dodd of charges

AP again botched net cost of health care plan

CNN

Dobbs still a big Glenn Beck fan: repeats his line about Obama criticizing doctors for “ripping” out “tonsils,” amputating feet

CNN removes criticism of Dobbs from interview; will WaPo’s Howard Kurtz cover story?

On CNN, Matalin claims, “Climate change is a fake issue”

CNN’s Castellanos’ firm is ad buyer for AHIP’s anti-health care ad blitz

CNN’s John King ignored progressive experts’ critique of health insurance co-op plan

NPR

Disappeared: Media ignore the Kennedy health bill

NPR’s Cornish ignored CBO’s much lower estimate of health care bill’s cost

British surgeon tells NPR end-of-life smears of NHS are “the most ludicrous thing I’ve heard”

NPR’s Rehm falsely claims Pelosi “call[ed] health care critics un-American,” equates Pelosi statement with Palin’s “death panel” falsehood

NPR’s Simon falsely asserted that SCHIP began “under a Republican president”

NPR presented vice president of conservative think tank as sole expert on Democrats’ appeal to religious voters

MSNBC

Scarborough admits he “misspoke yesterday” on cost of doctor pay fix

MSNBC’s Contessa Brewer shows how not to conduct an interview

Why is Betsy McCaughey on MSNBC?

Why is health care liar Michelle Bernard hosting an MSNBC special about health?

MSNBC’s Todd says GOP’s talking point on health care is: Now that Kennedy’s gone, “forget it”

Hey, MSNBC/CNN: Let’s see you play this clip all week

Why are reporters helping conservative Senators avoid taking a stand?

Will Andrea Mitchell question Joe Lieberman the way she questions Bernie Sanders?

Matthews baselessly characterizes reconciliation as “blow[ing] up the Senate rules”

Morning Joe continues to falsely claim that Pelosi and Hoyer called protestors “un-American”

Conservative media examine video of town hall disruptions, declare disruptors “real”

In addition to specific media outlets bias, some stories (especially the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan) get coverage skewed to the right most of the time.

Here’s an example of Iraq War Coverage:

On NPR, Wash. Post’s Wright claimed Webb’s Iraq amendment was “defeated decisively”

Echoing GOP talking points, NPR’s Tom Bowman asserted Dems support “precipitous withdrawal” from Iraq

Stumping for the GOP? Media figures uncritically linked Iraq war with fight against terrorism

NY Times, Fox News, and NPR reported Bush’s Tal Afar assessment as fact

NPR, AP, ABC repeated Bush’s claims of Iraqi troop improvement, ignored drop in independent units

Like the Iraq war? Thank the Washington Post

Echoing Bush on legacy tour, NPR’s Liasson says Iraq war “pretty manageable, if not almost won”

Now ABC News plays dumb about Iraq revisionism

Is the AP even going to try to count the Iraqi dead?

“Big News Orgs Help Bush Whitewash History Of Iraq War”

Reuters, MSNBC.com ignored McCain’s own vote in reporting Palin’s claim that Obama “supported cutting off funding for our troops”

Brokaw allowed McCain adviser to falsely claim McCain “called for the firing of Don Rumsfeld”

Media again quote debate attack that Obama “voted against funding the troops” while omitting Dem response

Synopsis

GOP pundits and conservative media outlets like Fox and the Washington Times (just to name a few) are successful at promoting a liberal media bias – despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. This is due, partly, to the conservative effort to promote wedge issues in the mainstream media and pick and choose occasional stories with a liberal bent as representing a liberal skew overall to the particular print or broadcast medium in question. Make no mistake, there are certain shows or media personalities that are definitely more liberal or progressive than most. But do those shows or columnists represent an overall liberal bias in those mediums?

Let’s examine a case in point: MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann and The Rachel Maddow show. Both are liberal – no doubt about it. But does this mean that MSNBC – overall – has a liberal bias? The evidence points to the contrary. MSNBC is moderate to conservative on many fronts and the plethera of links in this blog post exemplify this.