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MEDIA WATCH
PULLING THE SHEETS AGAIN ON RIGHT-WING MEDIA BIAS: The Real Reason The CBS Story Is Getting Such Media Reaction
Dan Rather Program Pulled Off Air In Hometown While Limbaugh and Savage Programs Are Left On Same Station
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SEPTEMBER 28, 2004 – As reported in the Chicago Tribune (see article: Rather's radio show off air in hometown) a Dan Rather radio program has been pulled off the air on a radio station that will continue to run programs by Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage. Just for cappers, this has been done in Dan Rather’s hometown.
Let’s get this straight: Rather, a man with a decades-long record of integrity, is being pushed by virtually the entire media toward resignation for one mistake?
There is an entire documentary about FOX News' intentional bias and distortion (Outfoxed) and lots of documentation of their hosts, such as O'Reilly and Hannity, intentionally and regularly lying, such as Al Franken's book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, our story about Limbaugh’s fraudulent tax arguments (see article: Rush Limbaugh Runs Numbers On His Website He Claims Prove Republicans Are Right About Tax Cuts For The Rich, But Even The Numbers He Presents Show How Stupid And Inaccurate His Argument Is) among others.
And yet all over the media, from Newsweek (see article: The Story That Didn't Run - Here's the piece that "60 Minutes" killed for its report on the Bush Guard documents) to polls on networks like CNN, the question of whether Dan Rather should resign is all over the place.
CBS. They were attacked for the Reagan documentary they would run, have just been hit with the biggest fine in history for Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl breast baring, and now, with one error, they are being assailed.
But not just assailed. You see, the essence of the right-wing domination is the scope and volume. This story is all over the place like the polls that have Bush ahead are, while to point out how FOX News, Limbaugh, Hannity, and O’Reilly lie constantly people have had to make documentaries, write books, and start their own news organizations and the polls that show that Kerry would win the election if it were held today (see: www.americanresearchgroup.com ) are entirely ignored.
CBS is being assailed because it is the one station that has tried to keep some voice for the left present. And, showing the tactics that have been used to badger the entire rest of the media to the right, they are constantly paying the price for it. It is no secret – they are openly doing it. Just look at GOUPSA for a nice summary of the war the right has been waging against CBS.
No one is calling for Brit Hume, Sean Hannity, or Bill O’Reilly to resign. Even better, CBS itself has given O’Reilly lots of air to bash those who point out what a biased liar he is, putting him on their 60 Minutes program this past Sunday.
It is time for CBS to stand up and defend their station and anchor. In the name of media integrity, they should call out the liars who are coming after them, those who are saying, ‘This shows how the media is liberal,’ as they continue to lie and spin Bush-brand propaganda 24 hours a day. CBS should defend itself by outing FOX News, taking on Limbaugh and Hannity. CBS has clearly made the choice – and a smart one marketing-wise – to be the one station left in America that gives the left any voice at all. They should take it to the next level and make the stand against the right that has been badgering them regularly now.
But the CEO of Viacom, which owns CBS, just came out and said this past week he is pulling for Bush. (see article: Should CEOs back candidates for office?). This one quote says it all, why no matter how many liberals may work for or even run any media organizations, the media is entirely right-wing biased:
“Sumner Redstone, chairman of Viacom, calls himself a "liberal Democrat" but said Friday that he is supporting Mr. Bush. Speaking at Forbes magazine's Global CEO conference in Hong Kong, he declared, "The policies of a Republican administration are better for media companies like Viacom. And I'm voting for Viacom."
All media outlets are pulling for Bush, he in effect said, because of one issue: media deregulation. Ever single major news outlet wants Bush to win for this reason. Even if Redstone himself is a rabid liberal, he has to pull for Bush in his role as CEO of Viacom.
And so a good anchor with a decades-long reputation for integrity makes one mistake and the entire media is all over it, while constant liars such as Limbaugh and distorters like FOX News are given a free pass to continue passing on flat-out dishonest propaganda on a constant basis.
And still, not a peep from the Democrats about it.
In reality, the entire problem of media bias can be resolved within 10 minutes of Kerry taking office. All of this nonsense began when in 1987 Ronald Reagan repealed the Fairness Doctrine, which had required equal time in the broadcast media for both parties.
Even as the Clinton’s decried to right-wing media throughout the nineties, they never put this doctrine back in place. And companies like ClearChannel and FOX News-owning Newscorp have been able to simply put millions of corporate dollars into pumping out one-side supporting, dishonest propaganda.
In the stroke of a pen Kerry would put a Fairness Doctrine back in place. And with a repeal of the 1996 Telecommunications act, which opened the door to the media consolidation that has turned AM into Pravda, the nation could once again get back to having useful discussions that have something to do with truth.
This is the issue to begin pressing: reinstate the Fairness Doctrine and repeal the media consolidation portions of the 1996 Telecommunications Act.
There is no question that the entire media is completely right-wing propaganda machine. The volume they give to the stories the Bush/Limbaugh right wants pushed is 1000 times the occasional peep they give to anything from the middle or left. With the Rather/CBS-bashing nonsense, we are seeing yet another undeniably clear example of it. Disney, which owns ABC, wouldn’t distribute Moore’s film but operates right-wing propaganda stations nationwide (see article: While Disney Claims It Is Refusing To Distribute The Moore Film Because It Is Too Partisan, Disney Continues To Operate Hard Core Right-wing Radio Stations From Coast To Coast); polls showing Bush ahead – even if taken in completely bogus methods – get every headline while those showing Kerry leading are ignored entirely; example after example makes the case undeniable.
Thankfully, the solution is simple. And it is time to begin to the push to put lying propaganda and one-sided domination of the media back where it belongs – thwarted by the law in America, only to exist in places where horrible regimes we oppose exist, like Saddam’s Iraq, the USSR, and in third world dictatorships.
It is time to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine and roll back media ownership rules.
For now, it is time to demand CBS defend itself and Rather. They are getting a ton of letters from the Bush/Limbaugh machine which is trying to bully CBS to be nothing but right-wing propaganda machine like the rest of the media. Let’s write to them and demand they not cave into – but instead call out – the lying right. Go to CBS News and click on the little “Contact Us” link at the bottom of the page and send CBS Evening News your note demanding they defend Rather and take on the real liars: FOX, Limbaugh, and O’Reilly – rather than giving O’Reilly free air to spew his nonsense.
moderateindependent.com |
