Well . . .
Dan Rather has sued his former employer, CBS, for $70 Million US Dollars (now at record lows to other currencies). This follows the successful civil case of Radio Announcer Don Imus, which involved CBS as well. This suit was settled between his former employer and his legal team. Now, one of the reasons why Dan Rather has decided to file suit against CBS is because he believes that he was Scapegoated by his company due to ". . . big government interference and intimidation in the news."
This brings up an interesting topic. It is often argued by Conservatives here in the United States that the mainstream media has a left leaning
bias. This ranges from how they report a news story, to which news stories they report, and which they do not. However, it appears that Dan Rather is arguing that the media has a bias towards the government, which is currently under a Republican President (some would argue that he is not conservative). This implies that there is presently a conservative bias in the US mainstream media. Now here are my questions:
- Is there a bias in the US mainstream media?
- If so, does the bias benifit liberals or conservatives?
- Is there a bias towards the US Government in the US mainstream media?
- Does this bias change depending on what political party the President of the United States is part of, and to what degree?
Personally I believe that the media is naturally biased, and that there is no such thing as unbiased media. Due to the increasing liberalizations of our higher institutes of learning here the United States, it is only natural for there to be a left leaning bias in the newsrooms in our country. That is not to say that there is not bias in certain forms of media, such as in talk radio. But this is brought about due to market forces, and not by a giant conspiracy. See the death of Air America for my opinions on that. For instance the
Air America Radio Station, and one of the
Conservative AM Talk Radio Stations here in San Diego were both operated by the
same company.
However, in the United States it is generally assumed that the media which reports the news is a non-biased actor, and is generally honest. This creates a situation where public opinion can be molded by the news, and how it is reported, and what gets reported.