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LIBERAL BIAS IN NETWORK TV NEWS

It is always interesting when someone asks a national network TV news anchor (news reporter) about liberal bias in the news. The answer invariably is There is no liberal bias in the news we report. There are few absolutes in this world and to say there is absolutely no liberal bias in their newscasts pretty much admits there could be, but they are not going to admit it! Think about it.

Think about this. You may rarely if ever hear a mainstream network TV news anchor utter the words liberal Democrats, left wing, radical left, or left wing liberals when referring to liberal politicians in America. However, odds are you probably do remember times when these same mainstream anchors read the news and mention right wing extremists, conservative Republicans, the Christian right, conservative talk show hosts, or right wing Miami Cubans.

Why do mainstream TV news anchors, in their newscasts, label people or groups as being conservative but rarely label people or groups as liberal? It may be because they feel conservatives MUST be identified so the TV viewing audience knows who the network news organization feels are those people or groups who have an axe to grind and have a viewpoint the general public should maybe even fear or be suspicious of!

On the other hand, liberals may not need to be identified for the TV viewing audience because the liberal politicians views on issues in Congress concerning abortion, gun control, affirmative action and/or the death penalty are not liberal views at all. In fact, possibly the network TV new organizations want their audience to view liberals as middle of the road, reasonable and not liberal at all!

Mainstream news reporters, on TV or in print, typically are skeptics but may tend to pass on to their TV viewing audience the views of liberal activists in a way they may rarely ever do for conservative activist viewpoints! If they did then why dont we ever see them cozy up to anti-affirmative action activists or pro-life lobbies? Are they afraid of getting too close to opposing views, views contrary to their own? Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton seem to get plenty of airtime for their causes. If a right wing cause does get airtime like the National Rifle Association (NRA) or the Christian Coalition, can you safely say the story will likely have a negative slant to it if you hear about it on a mainstream, national network TV newscast?

On mainstream network TV newscasts, judges, Christians, law professors, and talk show hosts may be labeled conservative but when was the last time you heard someone called a liberal judge, a liberal law professor and so on? In one survey, even nearly half of the registered Democrat voters polled believe that journalists are more liberal than the Democrat voters polled are! If TV journalists are unable to see their liberal views as liberal, then this is at the heart of the whole problem concerning perceived liberal bias in network TV news.

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: WALL STREET JOURNAL NEWSPAPER- EDITORIAL PAGE 5/24/01

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