Three Stories: Have You Heard Any of Them?

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Three huge stories broke last week. Here's a brief rundown on each one:

First, The Salem Broadcasting Network, home of such conservative talk show hosts as Laura Ingraham, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved and Hugh Hewitt, was accused of shifting funds from a Boys and Girls Club to its own coffers, to the amount of well over nine hundred thousand dollars. There are allegations that both Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh may also be involved in the incident. This shifting of funds apparently caused the bankruptcy and closure of the charitable facility. To date, there has been no apology from Salem, or any of its on air voices. Also, there is no evidence that the amount has been paid back. The scandal appears to be widening.

Second, Senator George Allen (R-VA), often mentioned for the Republican Presidential nomination, loaned $470,000 to a Union President with whom he was having an affair. Reports indicate that Senator Allen forgave the loan recently, while toying with the idea of running for Governor of his home state. The same Union has recently endorsed Allen for Governor. Both Allen and the female union President deny any connection between the forgiveness of the loan and the endorsement...

And finally, a significant report on voter fraud, intimidation and suppression in the 2004 election was released on August 2nd. The report, released by the bi-partisan American Center For Voting Rights, shows widespread intimidation of Kerry voters in the days before the election, including paid Republican operatives slashing the tires of Kerry's "Get out the Vote" vans the night befor the election in Milwaukee. Also reported was the fire bombing of a local Kerry Campaign headquarters in Philadelphia. The report details multiple convictions in many states of Republican operatives related specific voter intimidation charges. There is little evidence of the kind of widespread voter suppression and abuse charged by either the RNC Chairman at the time, or the current chairman however.

Why have you not heard of any of these stories, unless you read the much maligned alternative media? How could such scandals not be on the front pages of the New York Times each and every day? Why have there been no "special reports" hosted by Peter Jennings, Brian Williams, and whatever Dan Rather replacement is at CBS right now? Because each and every one of the scandals involve Democrats, not Republicans.

The radio network involved in the ongoing scandal is of course Air America, the left's answer to conservative talk radio. And the Senator involved is not George Allen, but Jon Corzine, the Democrat Senator from New Jersey. You may have seen them together last year on the Sunday morning talk shows. Both Senators Allen and Corzine ran their party's Senate re-election campaigns in 2004. And, the widespread voter fraud, intimidation and suppression was done by Democrats, not Republicans. Let me repeat that, since you won't hear it anywhere else. NOT REPUBLICANS. Or conservatives, to be more accurate.

If any of the above scandals involved the Conservatives I mentioned above, does anyone seriously question how much coverage it would have received? Had the report found Republicans engaging in organized voter fraud, wouldn't ABCCBSNBCCNNMSNBC have wall to wall coverage of the horror? They don't, though. Because it isn't Republicans, but Democrats convicted. Over and over, across the country, Kerry supporters engaged in active voter suppression and intimindation of Bush supporters.

Who hasn't heard of Rush Limbaugh's drug problem? It was story number one for days. Yet the Air America story has yet to be mentioned by the MSM. Any question why?

If you need more evidence of Journalism's left leaning bias, go here. The page chronicles poll after poll showing the ongoing lack of balance in newsrooms across the country, and the increasingly out of touch journalistic community.

But bias occurs on both sides. Everyone knows that. I mean the conservatives have FoxNews, and The Washington Times, and talk radio, right?

Wrong! If you combine all the so-called "new media" sources together, they don't hold a candle to the coverage, or non-coverage, provided by the MSM. The reality remains that a vast majority of Americans get their news from the very MSM sources that are most biased while claiming to be objective.

Well, so what? Does it really matter? Oh yes, it matters alot. A free press is the only non-governmental industry specifically named in The Constitution. The Founding Fathers understood clearly that the only way for a people to remain free was to remain informed. Journalists are supposed to fulfill that promise. As you can see from the three examples above, they are failing miserably.

Aren't you really just whining about life being "unfair?" Whining? Nope. For years, conservatives have known the bias of the MSM, and the control they had over the national agenda. Conservatives were forced to the back of the Journalistic bus, brought out only as token talking heads when needed.

That control is threatened today, threatened by the very forum you are reading. Blogs, and their older companion Talk Radio, have begun to shift the agenda. Dan Rather and CBS found that out the hard way, trying to influence an election with forged documents. Jordan Eason and CNN found out the same thing when Mr. Eason tried to run from some foolish, anti-American remarks. And most recently, my very own Senator Dick (D-IL) found out that the agenda had changed when he compared American soldiers at Gitmo to Nazis and Stalin and Pol Pot.

Yet, the biased agenda, and the denial, by the MSM continues. But it no longer continues in the darkness. Thanks to the power of the blogosphere, The Media Research Center , and such books as Coloring the News, Bias, Arrogance, Weapons of Mass Distortion and Blog, the MSM can no longer get away with their bias unchallenged. And the denials of such MSM journalists like Eric Alterman can't sweep away the reams of documented evidence. In fact, such denials in the face of the truth of liberal bias only make "journalists" like Alterman look increasingly out of touch with the "fly-over" country that used to buy his paper.

Three stories. Thanks to the New Media, they can be kept hidden no longer.

Updates:
Here's an update on the Air America scandal since I wrote this post for Balance of Power.
The Corzine scandal, and the deafening silence of the MSM on the voter report continue.

Mark - Liberty Just In Case


Well, I must begin by saying these HUGE stories seem to have eluded me in my sometimes 3x daily viewing of the news! *insert tongue in cheek laughter here* Wow... that one time you miss the news, three huge stories break?!?

I agree with Mark, in so far as the media is no longer portraying the full of the news but spinning with bias. That is as far as I will go with it however, because the problem is NOT a new problem and it was NOT contrived by the liberal media either. The ability to 'create history and have it say what you would have it say' is nothing new my friends. "History is written by the victors"

I must be missing something in this article Mark, because while your links supported your claims, I did not see the original news story links that were misinforming?? For example: You said that The Salem Broadcasting Network was accused yet the only links were on the Air America. Where was the accusation involving Salem Broadcasting Network--do you have an additional link that I am not finding here? You said that it was reported to be Senator Allen (R-Va) but your link showed it being a different Senator?? Where is the original that reported Senator Allen? Or was that a bit of sarcasm and tongue in cheek humor?

Anyway, back to these three HUGE news pieces:

Regarding the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club/Air America scandal:

Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club is a United Way funded Agency in New York. As such it is responsible for the appropriate use of funds and for making accurate report of all expenditures.

While there are those that might "zone in" on Air America and their lack of repaying funds--perhaps we should be looking at why in the WORLD was a United Way funded agency giving away money to anything or anyone that had nothing to do with the Boys and Girls of the Borough that they served? If this funded agency has been closed then good! GOOD! Obviously they are in desperate need of closure as they have lost site of those whom they are to serve and the proper usage of the funds that were allocated to them. The bigger problem here is (to my eyes) not that Air America got the money as it is--where was the oversight of allocations in a United Way funded agency? Where was the President or Accounting Dept in all of this? Once again, it is yet ANOTHER case of big business and government making sure that the disadvantaged of America get a bit more disadvantaged by the closing of an Agency that was meant to serve.

As to if a Senator bought a house for his mistress who happens to be a Union President--whoop de doo--its not the first time that its happened and it won't be the last I'm sure. Without the Unions in their corner, no candidate has much of a chance in an election. That has been going on since near the turn of the century when the Unions began. Once again, not a huge story and nothing new really.

The third story as to Voter Intimidation, I did take the time to read the report and was very sickened by its contents. I don't care WHO the candidates are: Republican or Democrat--tampering with the vote is an offense that should be punishable to the MAXIMUM. But... I would like to add the following to the dialogue:

http://www.iwilltryit.com/fixed1.htm

This might be of great interest to some, who would like to believe that it is "impossible" to tamper with voting machines. Either way it only supports my own thoughts that we need to get back to a true vote, by secured ballot and/or election reforms.

Now, in my view, the news is to report what is news. Who will determine what is news? Who fact checks? What news agencies are willing to go to the line to report the news, even when Washington is attempting to censor the news? Those are the large questions in my mind. The Media is far too controlled by big money and personal agendas to accurately report much of anything anymore. The Mom and Pop Newspapers did and are still reporting the news in what I consider to be a more ethical fashion.

Why are we not hearing more about things like plans being made for war with Iran?

http://www.globalnewsmatrix.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1981

Why are we not hearing about those that want to repeal Amendment 22 to our Constitution?

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:HJ00024:@@@X

Why did Halliburton sell nuclear reactor components to Iran if we are so worried about their nuclear capabilities and production?

http://worldnewstrust.org/modules/AMS/article.php?storyid=919


Why are we not hearing about how the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force is going against organizations like the Colorado American Indian Movement and the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center?

http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=18862&c=206


The news is slanted right now to the extent that whomever has the highest $$ and he who has the most powerful friends wins the cover-stories. Those that report the news as it is—well-- they end up printing retractions or cooling their polished pumps in the pokey for saying what the higher ups don't want to hear.

And "history is written by the victors" my friends... that is why the blogging has a huge responsibility to report it as it is, without fear. Because it is obvious that the mainstream media and those that are apparently 'vertically challenged' (i.e. leaning way left or way right) have their own agendas to follow, and reporting the ACTUAL NEWS is not part of that agenda.

Nariel - Ancient Eyes for Current Times


Let me start by saying, I share Mark's angst over the lack of coverage of stories that had they been perpetrated my Conservative, would have lead the evening news. Anyone that thinks the Media does not have bias has not been paying attention. I really can't blame you though if you do, when I was a liberal I didn't notice it either, the news always seemed to agree with me, and I got allot of what I thought from the news. Only when I stopped doing that and started to think for myself did I become a conservative.

I found an article the other day that illustrated my point very well.

Sometimes liberal bias reflects a conscious choice by the reporter or editor. Sometimes it stems from mere laziness; it can take a lot of work to produce balanced news stories on a consistent basis. And a reporter under deadline pressure may just not understand the conservative viewpoint well enough to explain it in his story. So if the conservative expert he called doesn't call back in time, that perspective won't make it into the story.

But none of these are valid excuses. A reporter's job is to present a balanced story. (Of course, the reporter who tries but fails because he's just so rushed and can't get a conservative to comment deserves more understanding from you than the reporter who never bothers to call a conservative and regularly writes or broadcasts biased stories.)

As you read, listen and watch news stories you probably already notice stories that you think are biased. To see if they really are biased, you need to determine if the story falls into at least one of several forms in which bias occurs:

Types of Bias: Descriptions and Examples of Each

• Bias by commission
  
• Bias by omission
  
• Bias by story selection
  
• Bias by placement
  
• Bias by the selection of sources
  
• Bias by spin
  
• Bias by labeling
  
• Bias by policy endorsement or condemnation
  
• More Than One Type in a Single Story
  
• What Isn’t Bias

It goes on to quite fairly show what bias is and what causes it, both ways. Allot of what I read though leads me to believe that most bias is unintentional in nature and simply boils down to fast passed sloppy journalism. Enough intentional bias does occure however to be conserned about it. These biases are plain to see, and the main way to combat them is to admit it exists and to get your news from more than one source. Watch / read a conservative rag (Foxnews) and then a liberal one (CNN), and maybe throw in a foreign one as well (BBC). After all of that, think for yourself what sounds reasonable, because the truth lies somewhere in between.

Zaphriel - Birth of a Neocon