by Harry Browne
For so long as I can remember, I've been aware of liberal bias in the press. Or what I thought was liberal bias. My file room has folders full of examples of liberal tilting in the media. So does my computer.
But, as that great humanitarian George Bush is fond of saying, 9/11 changed everything.
And he should know. Because from 9/11 onward, the media have demonstrated an overwhelming bias in favor of George Bush.
You don't think so? Just stop and think. All discussions about Afghanistan, Iraq, or the so-called War on Terror in the media rely on certain premises about what is and what isn't. And those premises derive almost entirely from what government officials have said. In this respect, George Bush has enjoyed a free ride from the media.
Did George Bush say that Jose Padilla (locked away in prison with no attorney, charged with no crime, no rights whatsoever) is a "bad guy"? Then Jose Padilla is a bad guy.
Does George Bush say that the United States military brought peace and freedom to Afghanistan? Then the Afghans are now a free people.
Does George Bush say that the world is a safer place with Hussein out of power? Then all discussions of Iraq must allow for that "fact."
When the United States began its invasion of Iraq in March 2003, did you notice that virtually every TV report on the war had the caption "Operation Iraqi Freedom" displayed across the bottom of the screen? Where did that phrase come from? Did the media executives get together and agree on it?
No, of course not.
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That's the phrase the Bush administration chose for the operation. And so no TV network used the phrase "The War in Iraq" or "The Invasion of Iraq" or "America at War." Instead, we were all conditioned to believe that this was an operation to bring freedom to Iraqis - just as the Bush administration wanted.
Conservatives complain that there are too many negative press reports about Iraq. But could it be that what's happening in Iraq is negative? How many times can journalists report that President Bush said today that "Freedom is on the march" or "We're winning in Iraq"?
Some polls indicate that there are far more Democrats than Republicans among reporters and journalists. Maybe so. But so long as they get 90% of their information from the government, and so long as there's a Republican in the White House, their coverage is going to be slanted in favor of the Republican President.
When the Democrats controlled Congress, they received favorable coverage in the press - and it seemed as though the slant was toward the Democrats. Now that the Republicans control both the White House and Congress, and are pushing big-government programs, they are getting favorable coverage.
Yes, the President is criticized, but more often for what he doesn't do - rather than for what he has done.
The press is biased - not toward Democrats or Republicans - but toward big government, because most reporters are by nature social reformers and because most of the important news they report about government has been filtered through the government itself.
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Originally published 10-29-04 at HarryBrowne.org
Harry Browne (RIP 1933-2006), the author of Why Government Doesn't Work and many other books, was the Libertarian Party presidential candidate in 1996 and 2000, a co-founder of DownsizeDC, and the Director of Public Policy for the American Liberty Foundation. See his website.
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