Charles Shiflett Column September 5, 2004

Liberal Media? You Bet!

If anyone had doubts about the leftward slant of America's media outlets, those doubts should have
been erased by the events of the past few weeks. Now before some of you start babbling about
rightwing talk radio or Fox News, let's set the record straight.

Talk radio, along with television shows such as Hannity & Colmes or Hardball, is opinion programming
- not hard news. The editorial pages of America's newspapers such as this one are opinion pages.
When you watch, listen, or read these you know there is a biased opinion being expressed. However,
when you flip back to the news section of this paper or listen to TV or radio newscasts you expect, as
Fox News would say, fair and balanced reporting.

News reporting is a tough business and I believe many news writers and reporters truly attempt to be
unbiased. Unfortunately, the majority of those graduating from our journalism schools come out toting
a heapin' helpin' of liberalism. Then there are news outlets such as the New York Times, whose
newsroom is unabashedly leftist in nature. Regrettably, much of their news output is picked up as the
gospel truth by other newspapers and especially by network news outlets.

Some of the leftward slant is subtle. Maybe it's in the number of stories favorable to Kerry compared to
the number for Bush that get published or make the evening news. Perhaps it's the way a story about
the economy is deliberately downplayed if it might help Bush or played up if it would help Kerry.

A few days ago, National Right To Life sent out a press release condemning partial birth abortion.
Reuters News Service editor Todd Easthan received the release and was so incensed he felt he
needed to reply to NRL.

Here is Easthan's response: “What's your plan for parenting and educating all the unwanted children
you people want to bring into the world? Who will pay for policing our streets and maintaining the
prisons needed to contain them when you, their parents… and the system fail them? Oh sorry, all that
money has been earmarked to pay off the Bush deficit!”

This man is an editor of one of the world's largest news gathering organizations. Is there any doubt
news stories coming from Reuters are slanted. Need more proof? It is Reuters policy that the men who
carried out the 9/11 attacks against the U.S. will not be referred to as terrorists. Likewise, right to life
groups are referred to as anti-choice, while pro-abortion groups are called pro-choice.

Another example is the difference in how the media treats the military records of President Bush and
John Kerry. When questions were raised in 2000 about Bush's National Guard service, the media dived
right in and left no stone unturned in trying to discredit GW. Earlier this year, they trotted the issue out
again in an attempt to demean Bush's record in comparison to Kerry.

However, when the Swift Boat veterans raised issues about Kerry's service in Vietnam, instead of
investigating Kerry's military record… the media began investigating the Swift Boat vets. Even though
some of the issues raised about Kerry's service will never be resolved, there are others where Kerry
has been caught in outright lies and even the Kerry campaign has admitted “mistakes”. Yet the media
still chooses to mostly ignore these “mistakes”.

Let's look at coverage of the GOP convention this past week. None of the “big three” networks carried
the opening night speeches, though they did carry those of the Democrat convention. I've got a hunch
it may have had something to do with the Republican speakers that evening.

Monday night featured Senator John McCain and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. McCain
stood in sharp contrast to Kerry's muddled military service and strident anti-war activities. While
Giuliani, in giving one of the greatest convention speeches I've ever heard, reminded America of how
President Bush lifted the morale of New Yorkers and of our nation during its greatest time of need.
Needless to say, Kerry's friends in the media just couldn't bring themselves to let America hear these
men.

Want more? While the media ran countless images of the anti-Bush protesters marching in New York
City last weekend, they didn't bother to fill viewers in on the background and political beliefs of those
marching. A poll done of the marchers revealed that 67% of them believe America's capitalist economy
should be replaced with either socialism or communism. Those marching are the fringe of American
society and their dangerous un-American beliefs should have been part of any news story on the
march. I know you Democrats are proud to be associated with these folks.

While the leftists in the media may attempt to twist, distort and hide the truth - I believe Americans are
beginning to see through the doubletalk. After all, the truth is nothing to be feared… unless you're a
liberal.