From UPI:
Several members of Congress sent a letter Tuesday to Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News, to express their opposition to what they say is the network’s “unfair and unbalanced” bias towards the Republican Party.
The group, composed of 38 Democrats and Independents from the U.S. House of Representatives, has requested that Murdoch meet with them to discuss their concerns.
“The responsibility of the media is to report the news in an unbiased, impartial and objective manner,” the letter reads.
“It seems clear that Fox News network has a deliberate bias in favor of, and often serves as an extension of, the Republican Party’s policies and ideology.”
Murdoch owns 100 cable channels, 40 television stations, nine satellite networks, one film studio and 175 newspapers, reaching an estimated 4.7 billion people worldwide.
The letter’s co-signers include Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., a member of the House Democratic Leadership, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., ranking member on the Joint Economic Committee.
A spokesman for Rep. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said there were legislative avenues that the group could pursue as a secondary measure but declined to speculate on what those might be. The letter cites recent studies by organizations such as Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting and the Program on International Policy Attitudes.
Hmmm. Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting you say? PIPA? Please.
A friendly reminder for these stalwarts of free speech in the House:
Tim Groseclose, of UCLA and Stanford, and Jeff Milyo of the University of Chicago used data comparing which think tanks various politicians liked to quote and which think tanks various media outlets liked to quote in their news stories to estimate two ADA scores for each media outlet in the study, one based on the number of times a think tank was cited, and the other on the length of the citation.
The media outlets were The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, the three network news shows, Fox News’ Special Report and The Drudge Report (the [Yale study is online here]).
“Our results show a very significant liberal bias,” they write. “One of our measures found that The Drudge Report is the most centrist of all media outlets in our sample. Our other measure found that Fox News’ Special Report is the most centrist.” And all three papers, plus NBC and CBS, “were closer to the average Democrat in Congress than to the median member of the House of Representatives.” Fair and balanced, anyone? To use a simplified example, they say, suppose there were only two think tanks, and The New York Times cited the liberal one twice as often as the conservative one. Then the newspaper’s ADA score would be the same as that of a member of Congress who did the same.
The estimated ADA score for Fox, based on citations, was 35.6. That puts it in the company of Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and a few points below the House median, 39.0. The two highest were The New York Times, at 67.6, and CBS Evening News, at 70.0. The average Republican in Congress has an ADA score of 11.2, and the average Democrat 74.1.
Just like the new left to try to secure their hold on media bias by legislating against the editorial decisions of a particular news organization. They’ll be going after The Washington Times next, no doubt.
I have no idea how anybody can vote for these people. Honestly. None.
update: Did I say they’d go after the Washington Times next? Because what I meant to say was that they’d go after t-shirts next (h/t Michele).
update 2: Did I say they’d go after t-shirts next? Because what I meant to say was that they’d go after privately funded advertisements next (h/t Allah).
I knew they were liberals but I had no idea that people in that position of power could be so fundamentally ignorant. I think I’m beginning to understand what Zell Miller is talking about. The Democratic party has been hijacked.
What I find the most ludicrous about the conservative/liberal press bias argument is the fact that the liberals will whine- “Look at Fox News!!! They are total conservatives and completely biased against liberals!!”
Even if it were true, which I am not prepared to completely admit, that is ONE F****** CHANNEL.
Liberals have the ENTIRE rest of the dial, and all of the alphabet broadcasting stations as well.
So Fox news makes the newsmedia biased towrads conservatives, but CNN/ABC/CBS/NBC/PBS don’t.
Freaking hypocrites. The beauty here is that whichever party is the one to misunderestimate the ability of the American people to see through the BS that the media feeds them is the one that always gets stomped on election day.
In short, get ready for FOUR MORE YEARS.
There’s a reason why Fox News is the most-watched news on cable: people with conservative values actually care about staying informed about current events! I really wish we could institute a current events exam and administer it as an entrance exam to get into polling booths. I mean, they wouldn’t even have to get a perfect score to vote. I’d settle for 25% as a passing grade. Even that would prevent most Democrats from voting!
John Fund had a piece in the Wall Street Journal‘s online political diary Tuesday about a little seminar given at the Democratic convention about intimidating the media. I guess some folks learned very quickly.
As a result of several conversations with left-wing people about media bias I have come to the conclusion that the right and the left mean different things when they talk about media bias. To a right-wing person the news media are biased if the preponderance of coverage and opinion is left-wing. To a left-wing person the news media are biased if a right-wing media outlet exists.
Well, what do you know–it’s finally here, in John Ashcroft’s AmeriKKKa. REAL censorship. By GOVERNMENT FORCE.
Wonder if we’ll hear from the usual “crushing of dissent” lefties.
No…?
<crickets chirping>
….
Christ, I just realized I’ve been reading too much liberal news lately. I used the non-word ”misunderestimate” in my previous comment in this thread.
My I should start smoking again or something, because that was just sad….(shaking head)……
Hey, here’s an idea – maybe the Democrats could get some rich guy, like, say Ted Turner, to start a news network that leans left? That way they may be able to battle the evil right wingers and their stranglehold on the news media!
The left is worried about FOX News because there cannot be a socialist state with a free media. That’s why there’s so much agitation about the tiny percentage of free speech left in this country. It must be stamped out in order for the left to lead us into paradise.
Without the internet, it would have been all over during the Clinton reign of terror. Without Rush and the internet, Clinton would have declared marshall law and invested himself as ruler for life. There would have been very little uproar because we would have all believed the lies from the left.
erp, I find your comment to be rather extreme. We are a long way from declaring martial law and were similarly a long way from declaring martial law during the Clinton administration. I agree that talk radio, the internet, and FOX news changed the news media for the better and were very healthy developments for the politics of this country. I think that the country would be worse off without them, but I do not think that we would be under marital law without them.
Three member of the US Congress threaten legislative action against a news outlet? Why doesn’t FOX just file a complaint with the ALCU? I’m sure it would be acted on vigorously.
Joe: Please don’t think me rude for disagreeing, because I could not be more in agreement with you regarding the nature of left/right perceptions of media bias.
However, I believe we are far closer to martial law in the U.S. than most people appreciate.
About one suitcase nuke near the Capitol building, to be exact…
http://www.clubforgrowth.org/blog/archives/013644.php
The slimy DNC attack lawyers are going after the club for growth also.
sooo. apparently Murdoch reaches 4.7 billion people worldwide??
who the hell came up with that figure?
The ACLU attacks religious symbols in government buildings because of a clause in the civil liberties act requiring the Government entity being sued to pay the whole bill , lawyer fees , court costs, everything.
Fox has a case against Congress. Murdock would be doing the nation a service by pushing it to the hilt and then breaking it off. Because the Dems in Congress will never recend the clause without having it beat over their heads.
“I have no idea how anybody can vote for these people. Honestly. None.”
My mother will probably vote for Kerry. She is not interested in politics generally, but has voted Democrat since her first presidential election, when she voted for FDR. A lot of this is momentum from her younger days, when times really were bad. During most of her life, the Dems have not been so out of it that she could not feel that they were on her side, against whoever (foreign or domestic). That may be changing now, but you still have all that political tradition to overcome if you want her to vote Republican.
But the Dems might lose her if they maintain their current self-destructive ways.
I heard a CBS radio report on the clowns who are suing Fox over “Fair & Balanced”. The total lack of irony in the reporter’s voice was highly amusing. The Left’s obsession with diversity ends here, evidently.
The fact is that they created Fox News by their unwillingness to tell the story straight.
Nose/Spite/Face
I am soooooo FRUSTRATED!!! Tomorrow I heard that W is going to be in Maine for a family wedding and I would love to stand outside their house with a sign that says “Thank you!” but I know that there will be plenty of rabid lefties there to protest and I’d probably get hit with a rock by one of the peace-loving sweethearts…
I think those representatives have a point. some discourse does favor certain viewpoints, and indicates a “mindset.” take the use of happyface emoticons, or any emoticon, for example. ban them now!
okay, okay, that would just be a way to selfishly advance my own agenda and make life more pleasant for me. but heck, the way legislators behave, isn’t that what lawmaking is all about? apparantly voters think Jeff’s way, voting the craphead good-for-nothings out, is ineffectual and simplistic.
if ya can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. with catgut and bailing wire, I say. and gags for every one of them.
The idea of these Democrats attacking FOX is hilarious. Do they know that one of the members of Kerry’s list of 200 CEO and business supporters is none other than Peter Chernin, President of News Corp., and CEO of the FOX Group!
I won’t speak for Chernin, he speaks for himself. (But then maybe he’s a Rove plant just to make the Dems look a little silly.)