Weapons of Mass Distortion: The Coming Meltdown of the Liberal Media

That there is a strong liberal bias in the mainstream media may be no surprise to you but, after reading Brent Bozell's "Weapons of Mass Distortion", you'll never watch another ABC/CBS/NBC/CNN story, or read the front page of the New York Times, Washington Post, etc., without recalling this hard-hitting expose. Backed by exhaustive research, Bozell recounts case-after-case backed by statistic- after-statistic of how the media distorts the news to promote their biased points-of-view. The media elite, Bozell correctly contents, sanctimoniously assumes the exalted position of America's cultural and moral arbiter and watchdog, positioning minority views as mainstream. Meanwhile, conservatives are consistently labeled and derided -blatantly or more subtlety - while liberals and liberal causes are given a free pass. But more than simply distorting the news as reported, Bozell cites numerous examples - the 2000 Presidential Election, Elian Gonzalez, the war of terrorism - where the media actually influences events rather than simply reporting them. "Weapons of Mass Distortion" takes head-on the ludicrous claims of Al Franken and Eric Altman that there is in fact a conservative bias to the news. Not that further proof is needed, but the recent CBS "memo gate" debacle, and the even more recent ABC memo clearly instructing favorable coverage for Kerry at Bush's expense, again validates the truth of Bozell's words. Fast moving, well paced, and well written, this is still a frustrating book. Frustrating in the sense that, despite gains by cable channels like Fox News, alternative press like The Washington Times and The New York Post, and more balanced news accessible on the Internet, the old media still maintains a stranglehold on much of America's audience, shaping thought and opinion to coincide with the minority views of the media establishment. While Bozell ends with a chapter describing the growth in alternate news channels coming at the expense of the old guard, and the "meltdown" of the Liberal Media, one can only hope that change comes before irreparable harm in done.

L. Brent Bozell's "Weapons of Mass Distortion: The Coming Meltdown of the Liberal Media" arrived on the scene long before the recent revelations linking CBS news to documents, since revealed as counterfeit, impugning President Bush's National Guard record. Too bad. The author could have written his book on this issue alone. Bozell, the founder and president of the Media Research Center, spends his days investigating incidents of media bias. Not surprisingly, the bias he uncovers is decidedly liberal in scope. This conclusion is no surprise to me or to millions of other Americans who have known for years that news outlets like CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, Time Magazine, and dozens of other purportedly "balanced" sources of news absolutely reek of left wing favoritism. What else could you expect? The employees at these places consist primarily of graying baby boomers; those spoiled, insolent brats whose existence has been a pox on our country for four decades. Not every baby boomer is a problem let alone a frothing at the mouth radical, of course, but the ones who are unfortunately decided to pursue careers in the public spotlight and never tire of giving the rest of us headaches. Bozell's book excoriates these capering clowns, nearly all of which we know all too well. Actually, I shouldn't call these fire breathers clowns since what Bozell explains to us in the book is deadly serious business, touching every aspect of our lives as well as influencing the nation's future. "Weapons of Mass Distortion" begins with a survey of recent literature dealing with media bias. The usual suspects appear--Al Franken, Dan Rather, Peter Jennings, Eric Alterman, and Joe Conason--all of whom scoff at the idea that the mainstream media support left wing agendas. In fact, some of these guys argue that the media have a right wing bias, citing such incidents as the 2000 election to bolster their claims. Nonsense, argues Bozell, who then sets out to prove how time and again the media mandarins set the agenda. How do they do it? You already know. It's how Katie Couric sighs when interviewing a conservative figure, or the eye rolling and tone of exasperation when a reporter or interviewer must deal with one of those clueless right wing evildoers. It's the unabashed gushing, giggling, and general sycophancy whenever Hillary and Bill Clinton roll into the studio for another round of self-promotion. It's labeling news stories with the tag "conservative" as a signal for sinister activities while left leaning organizations and figures get a pass. It's often just not covering stories at all if the left will suffer as a result. Bozell sees these things happening repeatedly in coverage of the Clinton presidency, gun control, the economy, abortion rights, religion, and the environment. Stories of major import receive coverage based solely on their relevancy to pre-conceived left wing agendas. The media

No matter what our political persuasions happen to be, the news media and its biases are important to us, because that's where most of us get our information. If most of the people reporting the news lean one way politically, that is important news in itself and Mr. Bozell makes it clear that most media people and organizations lean to the left. Who owns a media outlet is irrelevant. What is important is how the media outlet slants the news. Most of them slant it left. Mr. Bozell proves it. Read this book and find out for yourself.

Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell - the Harley riding iconoclastic Native American from Colorado - chuckled about the way the media coverage of him changed. Early in his career he was brash, bold, unconventional and exciting. Later he was called difficult, out-of-touch and lacking sympathy for ordinary people. The change? Campbell switched parties, going from Democrat to Republican. Though his voting record didn't vary, the media account of him did. This singular event, thoughtfully examined tells you everything you need to know about today's modern media. Thankfully, we have LOTS more examples due to the fine work of Brent Bozell and his Media Research Center. They are the authority on analyzing and categorizing the leftist tilt of the national news media. In the last 15 years both the Congress and Presidency have been held by each major party, yet the way the media attributes credit or blame to each somehow varies. When there was a budget impasse in 1990 it was Bush's fault, when again in 1995 it was Newt Gingrich and the GOP Congress' fault. Of course much more than Congress is covered here. Nearly every social and cultural issue that can be politicized is examined. One of the most damning studies involves media labeling. Did you know you can be a Republican with a view on abortion shared by 51% of Americans and be labeled "extreme right"? Not coincidentally, your liberal counterpart can hold truly extreme positions advocating government funded abortion on demand and be labeled a "moderate." In fact if you had a nickel for every time the national media used a term like "extreme left" you might, with a little luck, one day own a nickel. Economic studies are also devastating. The U.S. economy has not been recession for 2 years, and for nearly a year our economy has been growing at the hottest pace in 20 years. Despite this, the people whom the media inform still think the economy is IN recession. If you were a journalist, should you not be ashamed that people are so uninformed about such a vital fact? Not our national media, who don't mind misleading Americans about the state of our nation so long as it hurts Bush.Bozell names names and tells it like it is in reporter's own words and exhaustive media studies. The 2004 race will be nasty, and the media has their job cut out for them in getting a democrat into the White House. Kerry doesn't have Clinton's charm and blarney so the press will be in turbo-mode to attack Bush and push Kerry. The media inform the public and characterize the state of the world -- such as with the state of our economy -- and are thus far more important to the state of society than ANY elected official. Read this book. Understand how those who control and disseminate information affect the nation and our future. This year it is as important as ever.