The 4th Estate

Liberal media? Where?
Have a gander at this graphic, currently gracing the home page of WMAL-AM, a radio station in DC that laughingly calls itself a “news” station. WMAL used to be DC’s premier station for news and entertainment, a landmark from the golden days of radio… today, it’s a right-wing shill that delights in baiting the sane and balanced with such blabbermouths as Michael Graham, Rush Limbaugh, Paul Harvey*, Sean Hannity…

The WMAL home page as of today lists seven events for which it claims credit for defeats to various local legislation. Their grammar is atrocious, and in at least one instance the poor writing makes it seem that WMAL was in favor of the “liberal” policy:

After 630 WMAL began plans by the Prince William County government for a taxpayer-subsidized “shelter” for illegal immigrants, county politicians suddenly abandoned their support.

And I love this line:

630 WMAL listeners were mildly annoyed with a new policy to enforce Maryland’s seat belt laws in Montgomery County.

Oh, no! The police are going to enforce a law! And here I thought that conservatives were all about “law and order.”
(I’ve saved the entire page for future laughs just in case they yank it.)

What happens when media — especially those using the “news” moniker — not only stop pretending to be unbiased and neutral, but start reveling in it and promoting it? And with all the conservatives grabbing all the media, corporations, and every branch of government, why do they find it necessary to keep acting like they’re threatened by liberals?

From DCRTV:

The score: the patriots at WMAL 7, those evil, rotten, nasty “liberals” 0. That’s according to wmal.com. Like getting Prince William County to cancel plans for a “taxpayer-subsidized ‘shelter’ for illegal immigrants,” forcing Maryland cops to reduce their enforcement of the state’s mandatory seatbelt laws, and scrapping a Montgomery County school plan that “promoted homosexual contact between 8th graders.” But wait, there’s more. WMAL late morning talker Michael Graham is heading to Iraq in mid-July to conduct a “Truth Tour.” Says the news talker’s website: “Michael will talk to the troops, the generals, and the Iraqi people to get the really (sic) story.” No word on who’s paying for Graham’s excursion, which includes stops at the Army’s Central Command in Tampa and US military bases in Kuwait…..

DCRTV goes on to note:

WMAL’s Michael Graham, and some other right-leaning radio talkers from around the country, are taking what is billed as a “Truth Tour” to Iraq. But some critics, including independent journalists who have reported from Iraq, say the trip is a “propaganda mission” for the US military and the Bush administration and cannot be considered “journalism” by any standards. More from Fox News…..

* Oh, boy… Paul Harvey. This guy, who’s been broadcasting since 1933, actually calls himself “The Voice of the New Millenium.” I can only assume he meant the last millenium. This is an actual quote from his show:

“We didn’t come this far because we’re made of sugar candy. Once upon a time, we elbowed our way onto and across this continent by giving smallpox-infected blankets to Native Americans. That was biological warfare. And we used every other weapon we could get our hands on to grab this land from whomever.

“And we grew prosperous. And yes, we greased the skids with the sweat of slaves. So it goes with most great nation-states, which–feeling guilty about their savage pasts–eventually civilize themselves out of business and wind up invaded and ultimately dominated by the lean, hungry up-and-coming who are not made of sugar candy.”

In other words, we shouldn’t feel guilty about the horrid things we did to get where we are, or we’ll become weak little limp-wristed pansies who are ripe for conquest. Lovely.