The (Liberal) Media! (Insert spooky ghost voice here.)

I come from a very conservative, Republican family.  When I tell them I watch MSNBC (I love Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow) and CNN (they have a better web site), they get all freaked out and tell me they can't believe I still watch the Clinton News Network and that that Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews are two of the most liberal people on television (they haven't heard of Rachel Maddow).  Perhaps they don't realize that President Clinton was out of office 8 years ago and hence that reference is a little too old, not too mention completely irrelevant, and yes, Keith Olbermann is liberal.  So is Chris Matthews and and Rachel Maddow.  So what?  That doesn't make the entire network liberal, but it does give it a liberal lean.  These people are political commentators, they are paid to comment on the political environment.  Besides, Morning Joe on MSNBC features a conservative as the main host.

What's interesting to me is that my dad refuses to accept that Fox News is a conservative news organization.  He accuses CNN and MSNBC of being liberal because of its commentators (even though CNN features Campbell Brown and Lou Dobbs--two independents).  If we're using the exact same rule with Fox, looking at just its commentators (i.e. Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Neil Cavuto, and now Mike Huckabee, and on occassion Karl Rove)  we could easily assume that Fox is a conservative station.  But it doesn't stop at just the commentators.  The news anchors who are supposed to be unbiased (Megyn Kelly and Brit Hume, for example) are extremely biased, not to mention Steve Doocy & Company (not paid for their commentary) on Fox & Friends all have very conservative leanings.    So why is it the same people who complain about the "biased liberal media" feel it okay to watch a biased conservative new station?  Why is it that stations like MSNBC get jugded based on their commentators while their anchors remain unbiased and professional, yet Fox News has conservative anchors and commentators, but oh no, they can't possibly be conservative because fair and balanced is in their tag line?  The difference between Fox News, MSNBC and CNN, is that Fox isn't just leaning conservative, it's entirely conservative.

But I digress, let's back up and look at the media as a whole.  If Fox News, the New York Post, Washington Times, Wall Street Journal, and etc. are a part of the media, and they have conservative leanings, how is it that the media on the whole is considered liberal?  In fact, a journalist should maintain a degree of liberalism, otherwise controversial issues wouldn't be reported, they'd just be bashed.  Let me explain:  You need to be open to ideas and opinions and want an environment that promulgates freedom of thought and expression.  Liberalism is not at all bad and its a pity that such poltroons like Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh have to launch absurdist political attacks on thought itself.  In fact, isn't liberalism--a philosophy of freedom and openness--what this country is founded on?

I'm not against one engaging in conservatism as a political idealogy.  I don't agree with it, and will argue against it, but I don't hate you if you're a conservative.  I might think you're a bit silly, yes, but I won't hate you.  I believe in freedom of thought, no matter how silly, ridiculous, or wrong it is.  But that does not mean that I support you or agree with you, but I support your right to think.

So, the media is liberal only if we ignore the conservative leaning new organizations.  Let's not confuse the media with political commentators and pundits.  When I listen to conservative talk shows, I don't agree.  But I still listen to them.  I still watch Fox News and listen to Bill O'Reilly.  And I think that's the point.  The media should be challenging and aggressive and forcing us to think.  What's unnerving is that you get a lot of clever people out their on the radio and TV who say things really fast and make a lot of really simple arguments that people hear and say, "Yeah, that sounds right."   

So let the media be the media.  Like Fox News says, let the media report and we can decide.  But let's really decide instead of regurgitate what we hear.  Let's thinkIt's up to the people of this country what we believe and in what direction this country goes.  We control the media in a sense because what we watch determines the ratings and that is really what these networks live and die by.