An e-mail arrived from a fellow named Richard O’Neill after
my column lamenting the fact that all too many Americans consider
the likes of Rush Limbaugh and his imitators news programs.
"We listen to Rush because media such as The Capital Times, Dan
Rather, Peter Jennings, etc., are so blatantly biased and won’t
tell us the truth," he said.
Yes, the big lie, repeated often enough, has indeed become "fact"
with people like O’Neill.
The lie is the so-called "liberal" bent of the "mainstream" news
media. It’s utter nonsense and anyone who takes the time to
take a good look at what is being printed and broadcast in this
country is trying to pull a fast one if he claims it is so.
O’Neill, for example, claims that the "mainstream" media never
reported that George Bush has a bachelor’s degree from Yale
and an advanced degree from Harvard and that all Al Gore has is
a bachelor’s degree. Nor, according to O’Neill, did it
report that Bush founded an oil and gas exploration company, as
well as being one of the managing partners of the Texas Rangers
Major League Baseball club, while all Al Gore was was an investigative
reporter in Nashville.
It makes me wonder if my e-mail pal can read.
Limbaugh and his right-wing followers always complain they are
besieged, that conservative candidates are always demonized by the
"establishment press."
Perhaps some of these conservatives ought to ask Al Gore or Bill
Clinton about being demonized in the mainstream press. Perhaps they
ought to look at who three-fourths of America’s 1,400 newspapers
endorsed for president in 2000.
Maybe they ought to count the editorial page columnists and see
how many papers carry a Molly Ivins versus a George Will or an Ellen
Goodman versus a John Leo.
Have any of these poor besieged conservatives flipped through their
cable channels? Are they blind or do they see Bill O’Reilly
and a dozen other clones savaging anyone who dare call himself or
herself left of center? Have they taken a look at the political
leanings of the radio talk show hosts who have virtually taken over
the AM dial? Are they deaf, too?
Conservatives currently control both houses of Congress plus the
presidency. They have made inroads in state houses across the country.
Their corporate sugar daddies virtually call all the shots on important
economic legislation. One of their favorite organizations, the NRA,
controls politicians everywhere.
Yup, this liberal media really has clout.
The real truth, Richard O’Neill, is that it has none because
it doesn’t exist. But your buddy Rush won’t tell you that.
Copyright 2001 The Capital Times
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