Column: The myth of the Liberal media – Duncan Banner

Irecently noticed a bumper sticker: I dont believe in liberal media.

My first thought was, You fool. But, I then contemplated the situation and decided, you ignorant fool was the kinder response.

You see, friends and neighbors, there is no such thing as a monolithic liberal media. In fact, there are precious few liberal organizations anyway connected to the media.

My first real job at 18 was as a radio copywriter. But, I had been a radio fan for years. I was and still am an AM radio DXer. That means I spend way too much time trying to pick up obscure, staticky stations. Ive listened to a lot of radio in the past 53 years.

My calling in life was to be a journalist, and I had two fairly successful stints in the newspaper business separated by 17 years of being unwelcome for my liberal views. I have kept up with that industry for about 45 years.

Let me assure you: The notion of a liberal media is the concoction of rascals who resent scrutiny of their sketchy activities and who consider liberal a pejorative term instead of one indicating open-mindedness, fair play and offering neighbors a helping hand.

Or, those mean old media types, if not liberal (and theyre not), are mainstream as if theres something evil in having created a legacy of honest journalism that is older than the Twitterer-in-Chiefs latest rant or the lies generated from political caves or parents basements.

You would think that right-wing radio haters denouncing the liberal media would know better, being on the radio and all. Their very existence refutes their claims.

I cant be sure of the exact number now, but, when I did keep count, I could come up with fewer than a dozen truly liberal large daily newspapers in the country a few on the East Coast, usually with conservative counterparts publishing in their their cities; maybe three in the border states and Old South, maybe a fourth now; and Ill guess at a few on the West Coast though, judging by the political cartoons in The Oklahoman, that guess may be optimistic.

But, there are legions of conservative newspapers who believe that telling the public what is happening is a primary responsibility.

so, occasionally, you will see some yokel attack the Oklahoman one of the most conservative newspapers in the country for its liberalism.

Most newspapers, big and small, are directed not by political leanings, but by bean-counters. the MBAs who took over American business in the late seventies made making money the priority over making the product and orchestrated the death of american industry as a by-product.

Newspapers, too, fell victim to this fallacy. Newspapers arent trying to convert anyone. Theyre trying to meet profits that feed Bottom Line Fever.

Ah, but those liberal TV networks are unfair to our unfair man.

No, they, too, are just doing their jobs. When a U.S. president cites a last night incident in Sweden that did not happen, it is the job of the media left, right or center to point out the discrepancy.

Furthermore, the networks, too, are part of corporate, profit driven worlds, which is why NBC and ABC spend so much morning show time pushing parent company movies and CBS joins them in making whichever latest award show that their network is carrying the most important gathering of celebrities since the very similar one last week.

True, some of us might want to blame NBC for giving a blowhard bully a platform as an unreality show celebrity.

And, I guess you could tar ABC as a bunch of liberals since its parent company, Disney, has branched out in recent decades to furnish princesses and heroines from cultures around the world.

Sure, its a marketing ploy to increase their profits, but it also pushes that dangerous liberal notion of a brotherhood and sisterhood of humanity just as do the core teachings of most world religions.

It seems now that the brave Mr. Trump will protect his fragile ego by skipping the Whit House Correspondents Dinner. Talk about the bravery of bullies, who can dish it out, but not take it.

Mr. Trumps inability to laugh at himself would be laughable were he not president. But, it reveals an extreme lack of empathy, an inability to see the world from any viewpoint but his own.

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Column: The myth of the Liberal media - Duncan Banner