Commentary: Corrupt Liberal Media

Is news media corrupt?  Before you offer an answer let’s define news media and define corrupt.  The latter, when working on a computer, can refer to a failed file and therefore doesn’t always imply malice.  News media can refer to just about any information source from Internet to newspapers.  A better question would be is old media corrupt?  Old media is what we often hear described as mainstream media or establishment media.  Big city newspapers and companion websites as well as most TV news at the local level and the old alphabet TV networks.  Some of the old networks also have hands in extensive cable media holdings.

On the question of corruption I’ll admit there are many in media who’ve no malice, however.  Many share a leftist world view they identify as “normal” and anything deviating from this view is suspect.  In establishment media this means some assumptions are made and, for just one example, no one asks any serious questions of the purveyors of climate change warnings.  Watch the panelists over at any MSDNC show and you’ll hear the couplet “settled science” oft repeated.  The panels are usually an amalgamation of reporters and columnists from the New York Times and Washington Post and the leftist academic program hosts all operating in an echo chamber.  Those of us with some doubts are dismissed as troglodytes.

I’m not aware there are any settled sciences.  Evolution is still theory and not fact because no one lived long enough to actually witness evolutionary patterns.  Arguably collections of evidence point to evolution as having occurred but it still isn’t called the “Fact of Evolution”.  Some years ago I was watching Larry King on CNN (this was long before there were other evening options) and he was challenged on his agnosticism.  “I just don’t know,” he replied and I respected what he said.  He didn’t disparage believers and he didn’t skewer atheists.  He admitted his doubts about why he had no firm conclusion and he made it clear he wasn’t attempting to create doubt among his audience.  King would be very rare today.  I recall he once even admitted he didn’t agree with Rush Limbaugh but very much enjoyed listening to Rush.

It’s the mocking tone at MSDNC and many leading newspapers that betrays malice.  It’s a reporter using Debbie Wasserman-Schultz’s talking points in an effort to portray Rand Paul as mean-spirited and extremist.  Bravo to Paul for suggesting the reporter ask similar questions of the woman in charge at the Democrat National Committee.  There is a herd mentality among establishment media and this past weekend one of their own broke ranks and called them out.  You can see the link here from the TV critic at the Baltimore Sun.

The effort to sway your personal views has become routine.  Writing at the Atlantic the mostly conservative Roman Catholic, Ross Douthat, explains reporters will breathlessly report Pope Francis is a liberal because of cherry picking.  In some cases reporters don’t know predecessors in Rome have said many of the same things we now hear from Francis.  The goal of these reporters is to tell the rest of us we need to get with the program and follow the instructions of our new and liberal boss.  The trouble is they’re interpreting the instructions through prisms of personal prejudice and ignorance.  A couple of months ago a leftist columnist poked fun at Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.  We were told Walker believes he can talk with God.  What Walker had said was when asked when he would announce he was a candidate for President was that he was still praying on the matter.  The nitwit columnist later mumbled an apology and said he wasn’t aware Christians actually believed we could speak to God on matters weighty in our lives.  We speak and we wait for a sign.  This is a surprise?  People have been praying to deities for millennia and not only Christians.  The response for the liberal writer seems a bit disingenuous.  If he has been so incredibly isolated from the real world he shouldn’t have chosen journalism as a vocation.

I’m reminded of a story from Pastor Lon Solomon, the erudite radio preacher from Virginia.  He was at a workout club when a man approached and said he needed religion in his life.  Solomon said we don’t do religion but we do personal relationships with God.  As the conversation progressed the other sweating fellow was alarmed when Solomon expressed not all faiths are equal.  “Why, that’s exclusionary!” the almost convert screamed.  No, slop, Sherlock!   We aren’t buying coffee here by selecting whichever brand is on sale.  Our relationship to the Almighty is a bit more important.

I’ll close this brief commentary by saying most media doesn’t see its own perfidy and lack of understanding because most media is a reflection of liberalism, including the columnist attacking Walker and the confused man at the gym.  A couple of weeks ago some spiny fellow telephoned my humble radio show.  He explained my media criticism is like the pot calling the kettle black.  When I asked if I was like the local paper you could imagine him suddenly shuffling his feet.  “No,” he offered.  In fact he said no when I asked about TV and most other radio.  Of the almost 2 million people living in my state I believe there are only 3 of us who are right-of-center radio talk show hosts.  There are scores of newspapers (dailies and weeklies), several TV stations and several dozen music radio stations.  Right-of-center media remains a minority but I’m thankful in this rare instance for diversity.