“Bias” Vs. Reality

3:04 am EST April 10th, 2006 | Politics | 8 Comments

I found this clip fascinating. On C-SPAN they had a roundtable discussion with members of the media (Washington Post, Businessweek, Houston Chronicle) about Tom DeLay’s resignation and a conservative called in. His belief, of course, was that the media on the panel was biased against DeLay. To his credit, host Brian Lamb made clear that if you’re going to make that allegation… you have to back it up. What followed next was an intriguing clash of what substitutes for thinking on the right and its need to not have factual information that is unfriendly to the conservative cause reported in the press. But instead of press suppresion they call it “bias”.

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8 Responses to ““Bias” Vs. Reality”

  1. scratch says:
    April 10, 2006 at 10:04 am

    C-Span has no shortage of left-leaners calling in to accuse the channel (and others) of conservative bias. I listen on the radio rather than watch on tv, but I can usually see Lamb rolling his eyes nonetheless.

  2. RandyH says:
    April 10, 2006 at 11:04 am

    Thanks Oliver for finding such an excellent example of conservatives doing this – screaming “liberal bias” whenever the FACTS are unfavorable for their team. I’d like to see this discussed more often among the media.

    I actually watched that show on that very day but I must have been in the other room during that call. That’s a real gem there. I love how Brian Lamb and also Peter Slen call these people out on their shit sometimes…

  3. mr.curmudgeon says:
    April 10, 2006 at 12:04 pm

    I LOVE how the caller is upset about the mere *mention* of Tom DeLay’s name in the same sentence as Abramoff, even though two of DeLay’s top aides are guilty of associating with him. Yet, I bet this sun-gazing mouth-breather on the phone has absolutely no problem with this administration’s penchant for linking Saddam and 9/11 using the very same technique.

    Priceless.

    Facts really do have a liberal bias.

  4. duros62 says:
    April 10, 2006 at 12:04 pm

    Did it look like Chris Cillizza was trying not to laugh?

  5. appletree » Blog Archive » Media Bias Discussed on C-SPAN says:
    April 10, 2006 at 1:04 pm

    [...] Another Fair and Balanced media account Oliver Willis has video of a discussion of media bias. On C-SPAN, caller takes a media panel to task fo [...]

  6. Josh Yelon says:
    April 10, 2006 at 1:04 pm

    There’s a spectrum of activity ranging from “moral” to “iffy” to “immoral” to “downright crooked” to “illegal.” One way to make a big profit is to try to be as crooked as possible, without actually crossing into illegal activity. But if you live that way, there’s a good chance you’ll slip up and accidentally break the law.

    Abramoff was trying to skirt the boundary between crooked and illegal, and he blew it. He got cocky, pushed it just a little too far, and broke the law. If he had only restrained himself a little more, he could have lived a life of corruption and dirty money but remained within the letter of legality.

    But Abramoff’s failure has drawn everybody’s attention to the fact that there are other politicians who also try to skirt the boundary between corrupt and illegal. So the press is correct to ask, not “did Tom Delay break the law,” but “was Tom Delay one of the smarter ones who managed to remain just inside the line.” The answer to that is obvious.

  7. lexalexander says:
    April 10, 2006 at 1:04 pm

    Off-topic but amusing: O-dub, one of your ads is touting “1000′s of pictures of Beautiful Republican Singles.” I just found it funny. Or is Jessica Alba a Republican? :-)

  8. Rounds77 says:
    April 10, 2006 at 7:04 pm

    Uh, Scratch, I watch Washington Journal just about every morning before work, and for every left leaner calling in claiming conservative bias there’s about 5 or 6 right leaners calling in with the same whine. Yes, internally Brian probably rolls his eyes for all of them because he clearly makes a great effort to present all sides.

    What’s revealing is how frequently conservatives play the liberal media “card” whenever the facts interefere with their denial of reality. They should all just watch Fox and listen to Limbaugh so they can carry on in their happy little worlds.