Is the ëliberalî media a myth?

Columnist and author Joe Conason takes on ìBig Liesî about U.S. news media

by Lena-Nsomeka Gomes

Joe Conason, columnist for Salon.com and the New York Observer (where he is also editor-at-large) and co-author with Gene Lyons of Hunting for the President and Big Lies: The right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth, speaks to News Watch about the ideological state of todayís press. Do you think folks like Anne Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, and Bernard Goldberg are creating the idea that there is a liberal media bias?
I think people working for Richard Nixon actually created it before those three really showed up on the scene. This is a very old idea and they have picked up on it and milked it for all it was worth. They have gotten a lot of mileage out of it. Why do you think people are buying into this myth? It seems people would buy into the notion that mainstream media is being dominated by right-wing perspectives and not liberal perspectives.
If you repeat a big lie often enough, people will believe it. This particular one has been repeated for 30 years now at an increasing decibel level. Itís to the point where you canít turn on the radio or television without seeing conservatives who are complaining about how they cannot get on the TV or the radio. Their ubiquitous complaint is that they are not getting enough attention and yet you cannot escape them saying that. There is an irony there. Your question is right. Why wouldnít they recognize that there is an increasing right-wing domination of discourse? Itís not in their interest to do that. Itís in their interest to pretend that they are the oppressed minority, ideologically, and that liberals dominate everything. It also helps to explain the world. It explains why Bill Clinton can get elected and re-elected, or why most Americans are in favor of national health insurance, or why people are increasingly turning against their presidentís policy in the Middle East. These things are allegedly artifacts of liberal media bias when something doesnít go their way. How would you describe the range of political opinion that people get from political reporting in mainstream news media?
Itís very narrow. We get served a bit between moderate and conservative ideologies most of the time. And the left-liberals and progressives are mostly shut out or marginalized. There is an imbalance. There should be some reasonably balanced representation and right now there isnít. Do you think there is a commitment to diversity of thought in mainstream media?
I think in some mainstream media there is a commitment to diversity of ideas. The New York Timesí op-ed page has some diversity of opinion. They donít have someone who is hard left or hard right. They have William Sapphire and David Brooks, two Republicans, Paul Grugman and Bob Herbert, two Democrats, Maureen Dowd, who is somewhere in the middleówho goes back and forth with her own obsessions, and Nick Kristoff, who is probably a Democratic liberal, but listens to conservatives, and Paul Freedman who I would classify as a moderate Republican, at this point. I think that is a pretty diverse editorial page. Itís not terribly diverse in terms of sex and raceóone black writer and one female. The Washington Post has some range of opinion too. Most good newspapers do. Where it falls down is on cable TV and radio, where there is tremendous domination by the right wing. Unfortunately, most Americans donít read newspapers as much anymore. Why do you think the right dominates broadcast media? Is this some sort of strategy on their part?
I think talk radio is its own specialized genre and there are historical reasons why the right dominates there. It also has to do with the (higher) level of anger among white males than among any other group, apparently. They form a big bulk of that listener group. MSNBC is pretty awful most of the time and is fairly conservative and tries to imitate Fox. And then you have Fox, which influences everybody because it is such a loud blatant megaphone for the right. There is nothing like that from the liberal side, not from radio or TV. So you start to have this imbalance. Do you think this lack in the range of opinion and this growth of political think tanks have changed over the years since you have been a journalist? If so, how?
Oh yeah. When I was starting, in the 1970s, much of the right wing infrastructure didnít exist yet. They were just building it. But now, itís enormous. It really has a dominant influence on our discourse, our thoughts and our policy agenda. And the old liberal institutions that used to exist have come to be over shadowed by these right-wing groups that are very noisy and very focused and very ideological. I think you are going to see more liberals starting to fight back against that and assert themselves more. In a way that can only enrich the political dialogue that we have which is now very monochromatic, and in my opinion, dull. Which media news organizations are doing a better job at reporting public affairs?
I have to toot my horn and say Salon.com for one. They have played an essential role as an independent media outlet. Itís one of the few substantial and totally independent media outlets that are available right now with a larger readership. I think National Public Radio, on the whole, does a pretty good job of straight journalism. I think the BBC, which is available to many people in America now is definitely worth listening to and watching when you can get it on TV. I think CNN International is pretty good. I read the British Press online, like the Guardian and the Independent because they give us a perspective on ourselves, in our own language, thatís close but not identical, and I have learned a lot from them. And I think, surprisingly, one of the most right-wing papers in the country on its editorial page, The Wall Street Journal, has an exceptionally straight news desk. They do a great job of covering the news everyday without, as far as I can tell, any undue influence by the editorial side. I happen to know that they donít like each other. How well do you think mainstream news media reports on multicultural issues in American society?
I have seen an improvement over the years. I think there is a much greater interest in and sensitivity to issues across a broad range of ethnic communities than there used to be when I first started out. They are starting to get the idea that there are many types of people in America and that is what makes America a great country. What would you say is one of the greatest problems in mainstream media today?
I wish there was only one. The most dangerous one is to allow yourself to be intimidated by either the government or by loud voices outside of the government. I think it is clear that the media was somewhat intimidated as we approached this war with Iraqi, from telling the truth about what was happening there and really letting all opinions being aired thoroughly. And investigating the claims of the administration with the kind of zeal that they applied to White Water where there was nothing. If they had done that then we might not have gone to war. What advice do you have for journalist students on how to maintain the highest ethical standards of journalism?
If you feel bad about something you are about to do or about to write in journalism, donít do it because itís probably not the right thing to do. Pay attention to what you know is right.