docbungle

I am listening to Fox News' O'Riely Factor in the background. Before this, it was Special Report with Brit Hume.

That doesn't really mean anything, other than it was the spark that made me write this post. It reminded me of how often I hear about the mainstream press being of the liberal political persuasion. And also, it reminded me of my own perception of the differences in behavior between so called "liberals" and so called "conservatives" in the news reporting business.

First, I don't see how anything can be more mainstream than Fox News. And along with that, I don't see how anyone can view their entire programming lineup as being anything other than solidly to the "right", politically. Having said that, I have a hard time finding another news channel that leans so heavily in the other direction.

I guess there is CNN, MSNBC and the like. They seem more nuetral to me, with a few talking head type shows mixed in with a bit of a liberal-ish bent, at least when held up in contrast with Fox News.

But I fail to find a real mainstream news-show with a serious, obvious liberal bent. In the sense that the hosts actually demean those who disagree with them. Or is it just the newspapers that have this reputation, and not the television news? It seems to me that many more people watch the news on television that read the paper on a consistent basis.

But the main point of this post is my perception of the differences in reporting behavior by the two "sides."

The conservative press, such as Fox News, have a disturbing habit of making fun of and demeaning those whos ideas differ from their own, and seem to have a hard time separating their disagreement from their automatic condescending nature. When interviewing or discussing someone who's political positions differ from their own, they seem to just make fun of them and imply that they are stupid, instead of discussing anything of depth with the person.

I suppose someone like Al Franken could merit comparison from the liberal "side," but I just don't see him as being remotely in the same league as far as being mainstream with a mainstream-sized viewer/listening base.

Regardless of which direction, if any, you view the MSP to lean, does anyone else percieve this difference in behavior?

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