Liberal Media in Free Fall
By Alan
Caruba
An enduring memory of my late Father
is of him sitting in his chair by the fireplace reading The New York Times. As
far as he was concerned, he was receiving the most accurate news of the nation
and the world. Despite the many Pulitzer Prizes it has received over the years,
he wasn’t.
One of them went to Walter Duranty in
1932, a reporter who was an apologist for the Soviet Union’s Stalinist regime.
History revealed that he failed to accurately report on the 1932-1933 famine
that killed countless thousands in the Ukraine where collective farming had been
imposed. In November 2003 the Pulitzer Board, decided not to revoke the prize.
In its review of the 13 articles, the Board “concluded that there was not clear
and convincing evidence of deliberate deceptions, the relevant standard in this
case.” The Board extended its sympathy to
Ukrainians.
Ukraine is the site of major protests
as a new generation seeks to align the nation with Europe and not the Russian
Republic that replaced the failed Soviet Union. The nation is sharply
divided.
A Breitbart news story about The New
York Times reported that on Thursday of last week it had announced that “profits
had fallen nearly 50% in the fourth quarter of 2013 compared to the same period
a year before.” Total revenues were down 5.2% and advertising revenues were down
6.3%. A rise in the number of digital readers has not resulted in digital
advertising revenues. “Ultimately, the question is whether readers still want
the content the Times is providing.”
On Feb 7, The Times published an
article by Porter Fox claiming that “The planet has warmed 1.4 degrees
Fahrenheit since the 1800s and as a result snow is melting. On the same day more
than two thirds of the nation was covered in snow. A few days later, every State
but Florida had some snow.
Newspapers across the nation are
encountering similar revenue losses, but I am inclined to believe that the Times
is also incurring losses as its blatant liberalism has become better understood
by the current generation. When the Times sold the Boston Globe, once valued at
$1.1 billion, the new owner purchased it for $73 million. Boston-based talk show
host, Howie Carr, often called the paper “the All Gay Boston Globe” because it
was so blatantly biased in favor of same-sex marriage.
Newsweek was sold for one dollar. In
2013 The Daily Beast was projected to lose $12 million.
MSNBC has no right to call itself a
news channel and its lack of viewers suggests that, except for those so wedded
to liberalism, its multitudinous failures to meet any standard of journalism are
testimony to the awareness of its appalling broadcasting. The Current channel,
owned by Al Gore, fared so poorly that it was sold to Al Jezeera.
By contrast, The Wall Street Journal
and Investors Business Daily are thriving.
What this suggests to me is that
liberalism may be waning and those who no longer read, listen or view liberal
media are beginning to include the millions of Americans who woke up to the
horrors of Obamacare and concluded that this outrageous power grab of one sixth
of the nation’s economy had nothing to do with providing healthcare coverage.
Barack Obama’s performance in office,
complete with lavish, costly vacations and plenty of golfing, is conveying a
message to many Americans that he is not focused on the stagnant economy and,
thanks to failed stimulus and bailout programs, has not achieved any
progress. His failure of leadership
and his incompetence cannot hide behind a torrent of media spin.
Even the most blatant liberal coverage
has been unable to hide the tide of scandals. This is not deterring the Federal
Communications Commission from pressuring radio and television stations to
moderate or change their coverage of the scandals and other news the Obama
administration would prefer not be aired. The FCC has come up with a bogus
program to “research” how they make their editorial decisions. It’s none of
their business and reeks of its former “Fairness Doctrine.”
Americans should be concerned about
the way the mainstream media reports the actions of the Obama administration.
Ironically, it has been subjected to wiretaps and other efforts to exert
pressure on journalists. The press advocacy group, Reporters Without Borders,
just announced its 2014 World Press Freedom Index. Under the Obama
administration the U.S. fell 13 slots from 32nd to 46th among 180 nations measured in terms
of official abuse, media independence, and infrastructure to determine how free
journalists are free to report.
The administration’s biggest problem
is Obama’s pathological lying which becomes more evident with every passing day.
In a visit to California this past week, he still claimed that the Earth was
warming despite new records being set for cold
weather.
Put these factors together and the
decline of liberal media becomes more than just the changes the digital
revolution has produced. The New York Times is tanking financially but The Wall
Street Journal is not. Fox News has more viewers than ABC, CBS, and NBC
combined. It is likely you could add CNN’s and MSNBC’s viewers to the total and
Fox would still be ahead.
Why? Because all the White House lies
and stonewalling, combined with all the media spin of the news, cannot hide the
truth and the truth favors conservative concerns about the economy, about the
moral life of the nation, about scandals, and about a President who is not
acting as the Constitution says he must.
I don’t expect The New York Times to
go out of business tomorrow, but I do expect it to shrink greatly from that
august podium it has occupied for decades. Its internal rot is
tangible.
© Alan Caruba,
2014
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Alan Caruba's commentaries are posted daily at "Warning Signs" and shared on dozens
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