illustration by Yoly Stroeve

Right-Wing Media

Over the last four decades the political and Christian Right has built a media empire that reaches across the country and into the smallest towns. This includes establishing conservative talk radio stations, right-wing think tanks, the notorious Fox Network, and priming an array of TV pundits and talk show hosts.

The Right has additionally paid keen attention to strategic messaging and issue framing, which they advance though an integrated network of individuals, websites, campus projects and broadcast programs. These networks have been responsible for promoting some of this decade's most notorious hate media (see Bill Bennett, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage for ready examples).

Whether for profit or political power, media driven by hate threatens the basic survival and human rights of youth, people of color and other historically disenfranchised communities.

In contrast, liberal democrats have invested far less in media infrastructure, despite being confronted with the manufactured myth of liberal bias in the national press. The national press has followed Fox-inspired trends - owned by Rupurt Murdoch's NewsCorp - and many network news programs have added a disproportionate number of conservative pundits and hosts to their staff. These trends have resulted in a well-documented conservative slant to mainstream news.

A Call To Action
Ron Stein, author of "The Conservative Message Machine Money Matrix," suggests that progressives should build an integrated and flexible media infrastructure from both the ground up and from the top down, increase our technological sophistication and familiarity with new media, as well as develop a new generation of progressive media leaders. Together, these strategies have the potential to limit the influence of right-wing media in our local communities, as we build a balanced and fair progressive media system.
 

RELATED ACTIONS
http://action.centerformediajustice.org/actions

RESOURCES
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR)
PublicEye.org
Media Matters

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