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Now that he has reached the age of 70, let us hope that Bill Moyers enjoys his retirement and can spend his new free time dispersing millions of dollars on behalf of the Left-leaning charitable foundation that he heads. And while released from the pressure of hosting NOW on PBS, he will have the opportunity to relax and reconsider some of his recent rash and reckless statements. After quiet and thoughtful consideration, he will surely blush with embarrassment that he once hinted that George Bush might initiate a coup if not re-elected [1]. He will probably come to realize that arguing that Conservatives and particularly George Bush are engaged in the "...deliberate, intentional destruction of the United States of America" [2] was irresponsible, campaign-fever induced hyperbole. Perhaps we can save him a little time in retirement, but offering up evidence that his most recent notions that thee "right-wing media has become a partisan propaganda arm of the Republican National Committee" and that the mainstream press is insufficiently critical of the Bush Administration does not survive serious scrutiny.
Moyers suffers a common, sometimes calculated, confusion that mixes commentary and news and conflates the popularity of Conservative commentators with Conservative news bias. Though many people may learn of current events by listening to Rush Limbaugh, David Letterman, or even John Stewart, these outlets are either commentary or entertainment or both. They are not straight news. It is a distinction that is as clear as the difference between the front page, the editorial page, and the comics of a well-run newspaper. Moyers is not stupid. By not distinguishing between news and commentary, he demonstrates the perpetual frustration on the Left with the popular resonance of Right-wing commentators. The silly notion that the press has somehow not applied sufficient scrutiny to George Bush and Conservatives is refuted by rather clear evidence. The Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University has just completed a review of the Bush-Kerry campaign news coverage. They simply counted up the number of positive and negative characterization of Bush and Kerry on the broadcast news channels. They found that Kerry's press was 58% to 42% positive. George Bush faired far worse. He received only 36% positive coverage and 64% negative coverage. "Until this year the record holder was Walter Mondale with 56% positive evaluations in 1984." It is amazing to realize now that Reagan won in a landslide, while he received a record low 9% positive news coverage. Positive press coverage does not always correspond to electoral victory. George Bush's election victory is not an indication of the lack of sufficient scrutiny by the media. |
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