Where did the liberal media myth get it's start?

Question

I mean really....the conservatives have their own network (Fox News) and are adding a second (Fox Business). The radio airwaves are filled with conservative pundits on all of the Clear Channel radio stations (Limbaugh, Hannity, Savage, Medved, Dr. Laura). Even the stations that are more middle of the road have several far right commentators. CNN has Glenn Beck. MSNBC has Tucker Carlson and Joe Scarborough.

Meanwhile, the "liberal media" has the New York Times and Air America (which has been relegated by Clear Channel to the weakest stations they can find).

I don't get it.

Answer 1

Let's start with the basics. Most (well, more than half) reporters come into the business on the idealistic side. In other words, they want to change the world. That means, all things being equal, that they lean to the left slightly as a group. (We can comment that many turn cynical when they realize they can't change the world, but that's a different discussion.)

A majority of the newspapers in this country endorse more Democrats than Republicans, perhaps for the reason above. The news side is actually more mixed than people think, and there are a lot more Republicans in newsrooms than people think. Top television staffs at the network level probably are the same way.

Radio news doesn't have much of a role any more. However, radio did discover that there are plenty of people in cars and at home willing to listen to news/talk. The list skews Republican (people who are stay-at-home tend to be better off; same with people in cars for business), so that's where the audience is.

There are plenty of liberal commentators out there, as many outlets try to use a balance.

Answer 2

Every local news station is an liberal station. Most news papers are run by liberals with liberal reporters. All the networks are almost completely liberal. Most of the news magazines are liberal. Almost every movie made since the end of the McCarthy era has been a tool for making more and more extreem liberal ideas seem like moderate ideas.

"If we had just listened to the liberal extreemist, none of this would have happened", is the moral of just about every disaster movie ever made.

So, I guess I'm the one spreading the myth.

Answer 3

Indeed, the conservatives are stronger in Radio than the liberals are,
Most of the TV news are on the liberal side; even Fox is more centrist than conservative. As for newspapers, the ones I've seen are more liberal; they are going downhill, probably because people get the news quicker online.