Newsweek’s Evan Thomas, the most ideologically unpredictable of the regulars on “Inside Washington,” came right out and revealed the secret:
According to Thomas, the media “wants Kerry to win” so “they’re going to portray Kerry and Edwards as being young and dynamic and optimistic,” a campaign contribution that he calculated could “be worth maybe 15 points.” (I wasn’t taking notes, so I’m indebted to the indispensable folks at the Media Research Center for Thomas’ quotes.)
Of course, we already knew this.
But it was nice to hear a member of the media admit it.
It’s fascinating to see the liberal media’s utter contempt for Fox, which they consider a trespasser in their sacred grove.
A New York Times Sunday magazine piece on the forthcoming “Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism,” reports that filmmaker Robert Greenwald has managed to obtain internal material from former and current Fox employees:
“Do not fall into the easy trap of mourning the loss of U.S. lives,” [an internal Fox memo] reads. Another memo outlines the approach to covering the United States military’s siege on Falluja: “It won’t be long before some people start to decry the use of ‘excessive force,’ it says. ‘We won’t be among that group.’ A third, on the 9/11 Commission, is equally firm: ‘The fact that former Clinton and both former and current Bush administration officials are testifying gives it a certain tension, but this is not ‘what did he know and when did he know it’ stuff,’ it cautions. ‘Do not turn this into Watergate.'”
Just how incriminating are these memos really? The media will become so absorbed in the deaths of soldiers that they won’t be able to report other stories–isn’t that what the first memo says? The second memo is simply saying that the media will try to turn the Falluja story into one about the excessive use of American force, but that’s not really the story. And why not listen to what officials testifying before the 9/11 commission have to say before making this into Watergate?
Regardless of what happens meteorologically, it’s going to be a hot summer. With two conventions, we’re going to have a lot of media hot air. To help with the bias, I want to recommend Brent Bozell’s new book about the media, “Weapons of Mass Distortion: The Coming Meltdown of the Liberal Media,” which has hovered between 9 and 28 on Amazon.com.
It is reviewed on Townhall.com:
“The liberal elite have mastered the art of altering the public’s perception of what is ‘mainstream.’ As Bozell succinctly states: ‘It was the old media tactic: Make your liberal friends seem mainstream — indeed, don’t ever use the term ‘liberal’ when describing them — but ensure that everyone knows that conservatives are extremists.’
“The liberal media takes full advantage of the awesome power that has been afforded to it. Members of the establishment determine which stories get reported, what perspective is taken, and how much detail is provided. In essence, they tell us what to think about, and how to think about it.”