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.

After much wrangling and some tense moments between Democratic lawmakers, the House of Representatives passed an historic health care reform bill. This marks a significant milestone for both Democrats and the country as a whole. I was personally pleased that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Representative Patrick Kennedy to tell him of the news. Now the long road to reconciling this bill with a version from the Senate begins. Democrats in the Senate have been disappointing in how they have not taken a strong stand on the public option for much of the process. Part of this is due to the politics of getting a bill out of committee to the general Senate for a vote. Part of this, however, is a larger issue between conservative or ‘Blue Dog’ Democrats and their brethren, the more progressive Senators.

In the end, if this bill fails to pass the Senate, it is not the Republicans the American people will solely blame. To a smaller, but significant measure, the American people will also blame the Democrats who voted against supporting and pushing this bill – including a strong and needed public option.

We can only hope that Democrats, unlike their Republican counterparts, realize before all is said and done, that this bill must pass to end the symbolic divide between the  favoritism that business interests have had under the Bush Administration vs. the needs of the American people – especially the shrinking middle class.

The House and White House finally appear to be on board. The Senate, however, is still dragging their feet and proposing a ‘trigger’ option. Please watch this video then call your Senator and tell them you want a real public option – no trigger!!!

This video, created by Will Ferrell and company is very funny. But more importantly, it helps to underscore the ridiculous preferential treatment the insurance companies get over the average person – you and me.

Check it out, it is very funny and very apropos.

Over the past several weeks, we have heard many things about the health care debate. Some people, including conservative media outlets, refer to the public option as single payer health care and to President Obama as a socialist. And to our collective shame, we have all heard about Rep. Joe Wilson’s now infamous ‘you lie’ blunder at the President’s joint session of congress. But the rhetoric does not stop there. The question is who is organzing these events and does the GOP support it?

The answer shouldn’t surprise anyone that remembers who helped torpedo health care in the 1990s. It seems that retired GOP pundit Dick Armey is back to his old tricks. Armey, a right-wing conservative, has been very busy lately. He helped organize the 9/12 march in Washington as well as the Tea Party and Town Hall disruptions.

However, as is often the case with people like Armey, when you research the facts you discover something surprising. Armey, the man who doesn’t want government health care for the rest of us, has spent most of his career receiving taxpayer subsidized, government health care. Armey’s health plan is the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan. In fact, just to add another swift kick to our collective butts, the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan is subsidized approximately 75% by us. That’s right, we pay for a government run health plan for retired GOP and current members of both the house and senate. That means when the GOP and blue dog Democrats oppose any type of government health care, they are really saying, the rules don’t apply for us. It’s ok for us to have a top-notch health care plan subsidized by taxpayers, but we’ll fight tooth and nail to keep you from getting a non-taxpayer subsidized plan that might hurt our insurance industry friends.

Bill Moyers did an excellent segment on this. Watch the video below and judge for yourself.

This is a great compilation of JFK press conferences that are funny.

President John F. Kennedy was perhaps one of the most eloquent Presidents of our time. His beliefs and speeches still inspire – even today. Although he had given many excellent speeches, on the anniversary of his assassination, I think it is important to remember, with hope, the same ideals of democracy, freedom, and peaceful coexistence that JFK spoke about.

In that spirit, for those so inclined, I have included a link to President Kennedy’s June 10, 1963 American University speech. It is inspiring to watch and still has some lessons for our country today.

Oh boy. This is a classic compilation of just how unimpressive George Bush is. Check it out. Pretty funny.

This made my day. Looks like these two were up to no good according to the Post and this video:

Here’s a disgusting recap of Joe Lieberman’s Democratic attacks over the past year.