Last Updated on February 6, 2022
Forgive me for asking what I’m sure some of you will consider to be a stupid question, but I’ll ask it anyway. You know that “liberal media” so many of you talk about? Sure you do…you can’t go a day without someone somewhere blaming something on the media’s left bias. In fact, such accusations are so commonplace that they’ve become generally accepted as truth, yet when pressed to cite specific examples of the bias of which they speak, several people I’ve heard refer to the press that way can’t seem to come up with one.
So, the aforementioned question to those who insist that the media is biased: When did the media become liberal?
Was it in the 1980’s after Ronald Reagan was elected to office, and we had 12 years of GOP leadership? Was it in the 1970’s when “Watergate” made countless headlines and infuriated housewives who missed weeks of their soap operas as the networks covered Watergate testimony? Was it in the 1960’s, perhaps as a result of everyone being so awestruck by the days of Camelot with the Kennedys? Maybe it dates back to the 1930’s and 1940’s when people generally were so much more respectful and polite that there was actually a gentlemen’s agreement that the press would never show FDR walking in his leg braces? (To this day, there are only a few film clips that exist that show him walking in his leg braces. By today’s standards, that is unfathomable.)
And while we’re on the subject, for those of you in the know, what is the media’s motive for being biased to the left? The big media companies — those many of you claim are trying to buy up as many smaller newspapers, radio stations and television stations so that they can totally control what and how you think — generally have a much better chance of such expansion when Republicans are in charge of things. Democrats tend to be in favor of ownership caps, which limit media ownership, and thereby, in some cases, profit.
Incidentally, those of you who really think that those big media companies are trying to control everything you think, might want to consider this other possible explanation: by owning more media outlets, those companies are able to trim their payrolls and share resources. It’s about saving money, really. Most of them don’t really give a damn what you think about the issues of the day, as long as you make them your source for it.
So, if anyone who has all of the inside information on when the media made that “obvious” left turn, please enlighten me.
