I have always found it both amusing and alarming to hear the right wing of this country blast the mainstream media for its liberal bias. What a joke. Sure, lots of journalists might be left-leaning or centrist. But the content and direction of the media is determined by its owners, and what this means (among other things) is that the quality and quantity of critiques of corporate mis-behavior are minimized.
Also, the coverage of non-right wing activity in this country is pitiful and most clearly demonstrates how the media is biased towards the right.
Case in point: the tea party movement holds a meeting of several hundred people, and the national media are all over it, live interviews, commentary, blah blah blah.
Compare that to the scene in Detroit in late June, when the US Social Forum held a convention to discuss and plan ways to increase the quantity and quality of justice and equality in this great nation of ours. Over 18,000 progressives, lefists, whatever label you want to apply to them, gathered together for five days.
18,000 people gathered to talk politics, to challenge the tea party ideas, press Obama and Congress to do more. That's pretty amazing, isn't it? Certainly worthy of some basic, minimal media coverage on every mainstream outlet.
So who from the major media were present? Venezuela's TeleSur and Al Jazeera English.
That's just pitiful, and an incredible disservice to the millions of people in this country who are angry at the status quo and are looking for alternatives.
How can you call the media "liberal" when it so clearly promotes and highlights right-wingers while ignoring those on the left?
1 comment:
Well, I'm not American, but I can sympathize ;-). It's probably as bad or even worse here in Austria. This explains a lot, however (I'm pretty sure you know the content): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent:_The_Political_Economy_of_the_Mass_Media
Post a Comment