The MediaMachine

Now for a subject I've been waiting for, the MediaMachine. After reading Chapter 11 this is gonna be fun.

In the book it said only Fox News showed a bias. Everytime I hear that I about laugh my tail off! If you believe the CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, or MSNBC are not biased, or looking to present a idealogical viewpoint, I got some prime oceanfront property for sale in Southern Arizona, cheap!

There is bias on every single news channel out there! Watching Fox News does present you with more of a right wing lean, but watching the rest gives you the left-wing lean. A few years back, after the Virginia Tech shootings, I spent an hour going between the 3 cable news channels to see where they were gonna go. Not surprisingly, each did touch on it for at least 4 minutes. But, then it got way different. Fox News did not once talk about gun control. CNN spent about 4 additional minutes on gun control, The topper though was MSNBC which spent over an half hour of that hour preaching about gun control. By preaching, I mean many reports and questions and talking heads calling for more gun controls. This isn't the only example, but it is just one.

How about the way they covered last year's election? MSNBC, led by many former Democratic staffers like Chris Matthews, was very hostile to John McCain, and fawning over Barack Obama. CNN did this to a lesser extent, but it was still there. Fox News promoted John McCain, but not as much as they had George W. Bush in 2004. I guess that was because McCain was not necessarily a true conservative. Anyway, the love that CNN and MSNBC had for Obama was pretty obvious.

Another example of the left wing bias for the MediaMachine came in the 2004 race. Remember Dan Rather and the "Bush Papers" that supposedly said Bush used his fathers pull to get out of doing duty. Rather put these things out there like they were the God-Honest truth. Then it all came crashing down! A bunch of people on the internet called him on it, and his career was toast! Why did Rather run with these so quick? There can only be one reason, He wanted to hurt George W. Bush and his re-election campaign. Maybe push it in favor of John Kerry. Well, that back-fired now didn't it? And, rightfully so!

Another great example is in light of Hurricane Katrina. CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and NBC had no problems ramming the reaction of "the Bush Administration" down people's throats. For weeks on end he was attacked as the only problem in the entire deal. He didn't care about the people of New Orleans. They put on talking heads that tried to put this off as racism. There were calls for an investigation to hang people for this. But, a funny thing happened along the way. It was called the truth. When it got out that everyone, including the Democrat Governor and the Democrat Mayor had screwed up, all of a sudden it was on to other things. They couldn't hold those other people responsible. They had spent a lot of time and capital on slamming President Bush, and they weren't let a little thing called reality interfere with that. It was forgotten about as a political witch hunt right then and there.

Occasionally they still bring up the 2000 Election. When they do, they always like to remind people that it was a "Republican majority appointed Surpreme Court" that played such a big role in it. They never mention that if the Florida Surpreme Court decision had been allowed to stay, that would have been the decision of 8 Democratic appointed Judges. Oh no, we can't put that out there. Just like they will NEVER say that the real reason Al Gore lost was because he didn't even win his own home state of Tennessee. Not very many people have ever lost their own state in a presidential Election, but Gore did. Let's forget that fact shall we?

The main thing that the MediaMachine does is how they use words and how they phrase things. When they wanted to put President Bush in a bad light, they always said "the Bush Administration", not the "Federal Government". There was a dust up a couple of years ago when I think it a Chinese representative that came here. There was a Congressional Resolution passed saying something bad about their record or something. Almost everyone in Congress had signed onto it. When the meeting happened, or the speech was made, or something (I can't remember all the exact details, I just remember wanting to scream in disbelief), with a big sponsor of the bill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi standing right behind him, on the bottom of the screen all it said was "Bush Offends China". Not a single mention of what Congress had done for it. Now how can anyone not see the bias in that?

As I said in class the other day, when you hear a African-American describe Rosa Parks as African-American, and the suspect in a crime as black, you don't think that re-inforces negative stereotypes? When the MediaMachine phrases things ina way that makes a person look bad, that is bias! Never calling Democrats "liberal", but ALWAYS calling Republicans "Conservative" is an attempt to paint one picture, and not the other. Making "Conservative" a bad word is OK, but we can never say "Liberal". Always identifying some thing from a right leaning as "Conservative Think Tank", but just calling a liberal one by it's name and not identifying it as such, is bias.

If a Republican Congressperson gets into a scandal, he is always identifyed as an (R) right away. They always say stuff like "Republican Senator Such Andsuch is under investigation." Now, when it's the other way, it's just "Senator Such Andsuch is under investigation". How is that not bias? How is that not trying to paint one picture for one side, and another for the other?

For most of the last decade, I've been a HEAVY media watcher. At times, I use to spend HOURS each day watching and listening to it. There is a bias to everyone! Sure Fox News may go right, but with all the others going left, I guess there is a need for a counterbalance there.

My final point, and what cracks me up really bad, is that most viewers of Fox News will admit that it is right leaning. Find me a viewer of CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, or CBS that will admit their's is left leaning. They won't! They cannot admit the obvious! Why is that? I guess it would mean having to face the truth for themselves!

I'm not even gonna mention the "Greatest Leftists of the All, The New York Times". There isn't enough room left on the internet to point out their bias!