The Liberal Media Bias: “And That’s the Way It Is…”
Written by Barbara J. Stock
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Walter Cronkite, America’s “most trusted journalist,” played a pivotal role in America's losing the Viet Nam war. Mr. Cronkite did, in fact, not report honestly from Viet Nam. His defeatist, liberal attitude led to great unrest back home in America. It led President Johnson to bemoan the fact that if he lost the support of Cronkite, he would lose the American people. That is exactly what happened.
The Tet Offensive started on January 30, 1968. Historians now state without hesitation that America had the enemy on its last leg. The war may well have been won by the end of 1968 had it not been for Walter Cronkite and his report given on American television on February 27, 1968. Mr. Cronkite reported that the war was in a hopeless stalemate. In his report he stated: “Who won and who lost in the great Tet offensive against the cities? I’m not sure. The Vietcong did not win by a knockout, but neither did we. The referees of history may make it a draw. We have been too often disappointed by the optimism of the American leaders, both in Vietnam and Washington, to have faith any longer in the silver linings they find in the darkest clouds.”
No, Mr. Cronkite, historians will report that based on your negative reporting, the enemy decided to fight on. The American people decided that the “most trusted” man in America must be telling the truth. The fact is that the Tet Offensive was a resounding American success. It was no draw. The enemy was beaten. But the American liberal media gave the enemy life and the will to continue fighting, knowing the American public would eventually make them victorious. The enemy was right and Walter Cronkite was wrong.
On May 15, 1975, nearly seven years after America had militarily defeated the North Vietnamese, eighteen Marines and airmen died during a rescue mission. That is listed as the last “official mission” in Southeast Asia. How many American troops died between 1969 and 1975? Because of a demoralizing report from a liberal journalist, an estimated 20,000 young Americans died in a war that could have ended 1968. American military men were held in prisons and tortured for years. Some are still listed as “Missing in Action.” Is Walter Cronkite responsible for the Viet Nam war? Of course not, but he contributed heavily to our unnecessary loss there. The power of the media via the television sets in American homes was never more apparent. Many veterans now say, “We won the war in 1968 and the liberal media lost it in 1975.”
One of the golden rules of journalism is to report the news, not make it. Journalists are to report events without bias or judgment. Certainly, a good journalist never allows his own political leanings to be intentionally involved in any way. That is how it used to be--but no longer.
Does freedom of the press mean that the media, whether television, radio, or print, have the right to interject and inflict their personal beliefs on the public?
Since America was founded, Americans have relied on the news reports to give them an accurate accounting of events.
Do not confuse talk-show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh or Al Franken as “journalists.” They are not. Both are open and honest about their political views.
In 1994, Newt Gingrich and the Republican “Contract with America” broke the stranglehold that the Democratic Party had had on Congress for nearly 40 years. The liberal media were stunned. After many of the “talking heads” on the major networks recovered from what some called a “disaster,” they began denigrating the American public for being so stupid.
Peter Jennings reported that America was, “a nation full of uncontrolled two-year-old rage,” and described the voters as people “throwing a temper tantrum.” When his viewers complained, Jennings tried to placate them by explaining how exciting it will be with new leadership in the Congress, but cautioned them that Republicans would find that leading would be much harder than winning. It was a typical liberal non-apology.
Jim Miklaszewski called Jesse Helms “The Prince of Darkness” who was a bigot, a homophobe, and a racist. Helms was called an “archconservative” who gave Bill Clinton a chance to show how radical the conservatives really were.
What comment brought such swift condemnation from the liberal media? Mr. Helms dared make a joke. He commented that he felt President Clinton was not fit to lead the military and insinuated that Clinton may not be safe if he visited military bases in his state.
At a breakfast meeting in 1988, John Kerry made the comment that if President Bush was assassinated the Secret Service had orders to shoot Dan Quayle. Was there outrage at this remark from the biased leftists reporters? Of course not; it was barely reported. When it was reported, it was reported as a harmless “joke.” A “joke” about the assassination of an American vice-president by a liberal senator is ignored, but a conservative stating a known-draft dodger is not fit to lead the military is labeled “The Prince of Darkness.” But most in the media still deny that they are biased.
The liberal bias within the ranks of American journalists is not new. In a book published in 1986 called “The Media Elite,” there was a survey of 240 journalists from some of America’s most respected sources of news. Those sources included ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News & World Report. The support for the Democratic Party candidate was never under 80%.
In a similar survey of just Washington, D.C. journalists, over 85% of the “inside the beltway” journalists admitted to voting for Al Gore in the 2000 election.
Prior to the 2004 election, Dan Rather of CBS went on the air with forged documents in an attempt to drudge up, yet again, President Bush’s Texas National Guard service. There should be no doubt that Rather was trying to have an impact on the upcoming election. Rather, an experienced journalist had broken the golden rule of journalism. He was trying to make the news, not report it. The ensuing scandal as the new phenomenon of Internet web-bloggers tore his story to pieces within hours destroyed Rather’s credibility and the long-standing reputation of CBS as a trusted source of news. Two years later, CBS has still not recovered.
With the midterm elections upon us, is the mainstream media giving the American people a balanced picture of war in Iraq--or on the war against radical Islam--or the candidates running for office that will be making the life and death decisions? Apparently not. A study of the three major television networks showed that ABC, CBS, and NBC portrayed the Democrats in a favorable light 77% of the time while painting a negative picture of Republicans 88% of the time. Even faced with this study, the liberal media is unapologetic.
The FOX News Channel is scorned by the liberals who are furious that they no longer have a death grip on the news that is spoon-fed to the American public. This year is the tenth anniversary for FOX News and it was laughed at in the beginning, but Americans flocked to FOX like a breath of fresh air. Now, FOX leads in almost every prime-time slot on cable.
CNN is not only blatantly liberal, it has resorted to making deals with the enemy to get disgusting film footage of American soldiers being killed. CNN proudly broadcast a film that is nothing more than propaganda for the enemy.
Americans can no longer rely on the major newspapers like the New York Times. Three times recently the “Old Gray Lady” has published top secret documents that were detrimental to the war effort. Its slogan, “All the News That’s Fit to Print,” should be changed to, “All the news that will assist the liberal movement.”
Americans have reached a point where they must search out the truth on their own. No longer can the mainstream media be trusted to present just the facts. It is no longer, “And that’s the way it is.” It has become, “And this is how I want you to think it is.”
As frightening as the thought may be, it’s time that Americans learned to think for themselves. We did it once, and we can do it again.
chronwatch.com |
