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Chair column as published in the Kenosha News, May 2007

The mainstream media has a strong foundation in American society.  Our current system of radio, television, and newspapers are a result of massive consolidations along with market winners and losers.  The question is, however, of the media outlets that remain, are they liberal or conservative?  Do they help Democrats, and as a result exist to hurt Republicans?  Or is the opposite the case?  Is it impossible to tell?

The answers to these questions lie in a complex web of reporter, editor, and owner bias.  I only hear that the media is liberal when it is perceived as “not conservative enough”.  Clearly, Fox News is not liberal media.  This network was created to strictly embolden the neo-conservatives.  In fact, a recent 15 minute watch of the channel while working out at the Y revealed a segment blasting Democrats for calling out Gonzales, then broke to a Tort-Reform ad for a conservative Political Action Committee.

Watch CNN‘s Lou Dobbs.  He claims to be a moderate Republican.  I guess because he isn’t as ultra-conservative as Fox News, he must be liberal, even though he is against any moderate stance on immigration reform.

Listen to the radio and you’ll hear the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Charlie Sykes, Relevant Radio, etc.  No liberal media on the FM or AM dial in the Milwaukee market, minus Wisconsin Public Radio, which is NOT liberal.  Although conservative listeners call in to claim hatred of the balanced news that Fox can only lie about, public radio is the best platform to hear both sides of the argument, no matter your stance.

If you think your media source is biased, take a look at who owns the outlet.  In Madison, the only Air America station in Wisconsin (the only network to combat syndicated conservative radio hosts) was about to get dropped in favor of ESPN news.  Why?  Clear Channel, a major supporter of the GOP, is the owner of the station.  Even though Madison is the most liberal market in Wisconsin, they were about to lose their only liberal radio station in favor of sports news, until the public finally got enough signers on a petition to keep it as Air America.

Big business, with complete disregard to local coverage, is destroying local media coverage and market conscience.  Through radio and television network consolidation, we no longer see local coverage on a massive scale.  In fact, the Midwest News Index, a project of the UW-Madison NewsLab, found that local interest in television news broadcast represented only 2 minutes out of a 30 minute news broadcast.  This isn’t liberal or conservative; it’s syndicated news in lieu of local interest news!

The next time you are told that the liberal media is out to snuff your conservative views, just keep this in mind: Americans are rhetorically conservative, but operationally liberal.  We will always find a conservative or liberal slant to every media outlet that maintains a moderate political stance.