Liberal Bias In Media Essay, Research Paper
Liberal Media
Plain and simple, Media is bias. In anyway that you would like to put it, this statement is a fact.
The country always seems to have something to say about media depending on the current events
happening at the time. If it’s a republican, the media is too left-winged, and if it’s a democrat, then the
media just seems to head right a little too much.
Bias media has plagued the United States ever since Watergate though, Of course it existed
before that, but Watergate totally portrayed the scandal as an in-depth conspiracy of the entire
republican party, not just Nixon. Although, much of the republican party was to blame, the majority of
the media decided to conveniently add that the whole party was too blame. I think this was the turning
point of when media turned left. Of course, I have to add that I am a republican, but most of my views
are without bias, and basically coming from left-winged articles.
As possibly the best recent example of Bias media, would have to be the current election
between Vice President Al Gore, and Governor George Bush. Now, no matter what anyone says, Al gore
will have a advantage throughout this entire election. Wonder why? How about the face that there is
currently a democratic leader in charge of our country, and not to mention, a democratic congress. If
one wanted to look over the Internet, and find headlines on the election, this is what they would find:
Lieberman Says Bush Not Ready for White House
Updated 8:50 PM ET October 29, 2000
By Carol Giacomo
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman charged on Sunday that Republican George W. Bush is unprepared to be president, as the tight and increasingly personal race for the White House headed into its final week. The Reuters/MSNBC daily tracking poll released on Sunday evening showed Bush has slightly widened his lead over Democrat Al Gore to three points, but separate surveys of nine key battleground states showed the race could still go either way. Calling the presidency the world’s “most important and complicated” government job, Lieberman said that “based on Governor Bush’s experience, his record in Texas, which is not good on the environment, health care, education and based on his plans for the country which I’m confident would take us into debt and cripple our economy again, I don’t think George Bush is ready to be president of the United States.” For months, Democrats have questioned if the 54-year-old son of former President George Bush has the ability and experience needed to be president. On Sunday, with nine days to go before Election Day, Lieberman flatly and publicly made that assertion. In response, Bush senior adviser Ari Fleischer denounced Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore for “one of the most negative finishes in presidential politics.” “He has authorized his surrogates to take this campaign to new lows,” Fleischer told reporters when asked about Lieberman’s comments, adding: “I think you’re seeing in the final week, a very negative, divisive and bitter campaign … in this campaign, only one candidate is engaging in it and that candidate is Al Gore.” But Republicans have also sharpened their attacks in the 2000 campaign’s final days, including a recent speech in which Bush issued a stinging indictment of Gore that linked the vice president to the Clinton administration’s “failed leadership” and vowed to honor the “controlling authority of conscience” if he wins the election.
So, lets start with the headline. Instead of giving perhaps poll readings, or accurate facts, this
web page has decided to put an editorial in head of everything else. The article goes on to say that
Bush has “slightly widened his lead over Democratic Al Gore to three points, but separate surveys of
nine key battleground states showed the race could still go either way.” Now, without looking at the
message on this statement, any given person could still see that although Bush is ahead, Gore still
had that chance, that this liberal media need not let us forget about! As if that wasnt enough, after
Lieberman says his comment about Governor Bush’s experience, and the quote is over, the article
practically picks apart Bush by acknowledging the fact that democrats dont think Bush is ready. Well,
of course they dont, he is an opposing candidate, but is it necessary to state this?People know this,
we’re not stupid. Well, I will give this article one good mark, and it is that they try to cover up there
bias in the least at the end of the article when stating that Gore’s campaign has had some negative
comments, and the mudslinging on The Vice-Presidents part is basically more than expected. Oh
wait, we’re not done, you didnt think this reporter would end the article with a conservative candidate
on top, did you? The article goes on to say that the Governor’s party has made it’s share of comments
to, with a gratuitous quote included on none other than, Clinton’s administration.
Movies are another big media bias. Believe it or not, but the last three movies
about presidents or Washington is general have actually all been Liberal Democratic
movies. In “The American President”, Micheal Douglas is a die-hard liberal who makes
it more than obvious that his governmental programs come well ahead of military
logistics. The same goes for such movies as “Air Force One”, “Murder and 1600″, and
even the children’s movie by Disney, “The First Daughter”. In this movie, the President
starts out with a press conference with a “Vote Democrat” pin on the breast of his
jacket. Wow, that right there says it all.
When looking on the Internet, I came across an editorial sent to The American
Prospect, a highly circulated site online as well as read on Capitol Hill. The first thing
on the site was this editorial entitled “Washington Memo”. I copied the parts that I
thought were most bias.
1.Dear Washington Memo,
I read last week’s Washington Memo and watched for the possible Gore surge that you said might be coming after the debate
Well, reading this, the average neutral American can even tell that The Washington
Memo is predicting a Gore “surge” and obviously expect him to win.
After reading through, the author of this article, Mr. X, goes ahead and say that he
realizes that Gore will lose, and he must accept it.
2.When CNN put my man down 10 points I couldn’t take any more. It was time to deal. Cut my losses. Reduce my emotional exposure. All the rest of it. I still had two more weeks before the fatal day. With any luck, I figured, by the time Gore actually lost I might be through at least two or three stages of the grieving process (denial, anger, etc.). So I got down to business. No more looking at the Polling Report, at least not 50 times a day. Close it off; it’s not my worry anymore. And anyway, how bad could a Bush presidency be? The Dems would have solid numbers in the House and the Senate. He wouldn’t be able to do anything that bad.
This is as liberal Bias as it gets. Yes, although it is an editorial, this magazine and
website just HAD to put this letter in from didn’t they, which just goes to prove my
point of how a liberal bias will always linger over Capitol Hill, as well as American
Politics. “how bad could a Bush Presidency be? The Dems would have solid numbers in
the house and the senate. He wouldn’t be able to do anything that bad.” Of course, it
is an editorial, but my God, need this be on the front page? I mean, “how bad could it
be?” Come on!!!!
Major newspapers have often said they stay away from any type of bias these
days, with all of America taking part is politics more than ever. This is simply not true.
In 1996, the BuffaloTimes printed four editorial cartoons which all happened to be of a
liberal humor.
Just look at this illustration. It is so completely obvious that there is a liberal
opinion affiliated in printing this. Why would a newspaper with a circulation of
hundreds of thousands print such a picture, during the campaigning period? Most
people could figure that one out for themselves.
Bias in Media. It will always be present from wherever you stand politically.
However, most people would agree that there is a strong liberal presence in our
multimedia today. Although that it is unlikely that papers, movies, and cartoons will
move to change a voting ballot, a murky cloud of opinion, self-thought, and narrow-
mindedness will always loom over the average citizen, who just happens to be a voter.
By:
Josh Engle