AAR congressional media bias panel: the gift that keeps on giving

GOPUSA apparently attended or listened to the recent media bias forum, and reports:

"[Al Franken says the] the right-wing media [is a] coordinated propaganda machine capable of causing symptoms closely resembling mental illness...

In his opening statement, Franken named "the Fox News Channel, the Wall Street Journal editorial page, the Washington Times and, of course, talk radio" as media that work in league with the Bush administration and corporate-funded think tanks.

Franken also charged that people in "right-wing radio," such as conservative talk show hosts Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, "routinely lie, they spread hate, and I chose to do the job I'm doing right now" on the liberal Air America network "because someone needed to push back."

After Franken stated that he had gone on USO tours to boost the morale of U.S. troops abroad, he accused Limbaugh of being a "one-man demoralizer," for telling his listeners that "liberals want soldiers to die." Limbaugh's program, he noted, is broadcast on Armed Forces Radio.

"These guys will just lie," Franken added, since "their purpose is not to serve their audiences, but to manipulate them."

Then, Eric Alterman referred to Scott McClellan as "McClennan". Then:

[Randi] Rhodes claimed "corporate news has simply become propaganda for a Republican majority today, a Republican majority tomorrow, a Republican majority forever."

She had three recommendations for addressing media bias. The first was for Congress to adopt standards for labeling a broadcast as news instead of opinion or commentary.

"Second, I think we need to bring back the Fairness Doctrine, which served this country well from 1949 through 1987" by guaranteeing "competing viewpoints on issues of public importance."

Rhodes' final suggestion was "to protect our journalists," who "must be free to report and never be penalized with lost access to the people they cover or with retribution from partisan employers.

Previously: "Air America congress media bias forum open thread".

Posted in Meta at May 25, 2005 11:58 AM

Comments

If they had their way we would all be speaking Newspeak. That would be double plus bad.

Posted by: gregd at May 25, 2005 02:07 PM