Take Me To Post Comment Form Sovereign's post from earlier today reminded me of a point that I have been trying to make for years. The notion that the media is "liberal" is a myth. The media is corporate. They are in business to generate a profit, and please do not construe that as an attack on capitalism. Unless of course, you believe that an honest, accurate description of the role of a corporation is an attack on capitalism.

True enough, you never saw stories on ABC, CBS or NBC or CNN about how gays were trying to recruit children, or the ACLU is really a communist front group, or President Clinton was involved in drug smuggling and the death of Vince Foster. There is a good reason that those stories did not appear on the network nightly news. None of them are true. Failure to broadcast rumor, myth and innuendo is not bias, it is journalism.

By following the old axiom of capitalism that a successful company will find a need, and fill it at a profit, FOX news came to the rescue. Now anyone who wants to blame gay people, welfare recipients, illegal immigrants, organized labor, and the ACLU for all of the nation's problems have their very own broadcast outlet. For bonus points, if you believe the President is not really American, or at the very least is a racist, they have programming for you too.

But returning to this notion of the major networks as somehow liberal, I find the assertion to be ludicrous. If you want an example of truly leftist television, try tuning in to LinkTV. It is channel 375 on DirecTV. You can probably Google to find out if your cable or satellite channel carries it. Now that is liberal/leftist television.

Take a look if you can at LinkTV then check out the nightly news from ABC, CBS, NBC or CNN. It is like comparing CSPAN to Glenn Beck. There is no comparison, not even close.

The point has been driven home this week as we take a look at the coverage of the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations by the major news networks. During the conflict in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, John McCain said "we are all Georgians now".

I will paraphrase that quote as it relates to the media coverage of the Occupy Wall Street protests, because based on what I have seen, the news media have decided that we are all FOX news now. The tone of the coverage is dismissive and condescending. Remember back to those glory days of yesteryear when it was so patriotic for the grassroots to speak out, stroll around with automatic weapons and organize TeaParties? My how things change.

The lazy bureaucrats, the union thugs, pot-smoking hippies, and all manner of other miscreants and ne'er-do-wells have taken to the streets. Suddenly, people demonstrating in public is something to be ridiculed and sneered at. I mean after all, who do these whacked out lazy leftist bums think they are anyway? Americans???

Here is one pertinent observation from a representative of the so-called liberal media.



http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/cnns-alison-kosik-ridicules-weed-smoking-w

CNN financial correspondent Alison Kosik described the "purpose" of Occupy Wall Street protestors "in 140 or less" as "bang on the bongos, smoke weed!" in Twitter comments captured by NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen: