To the editor:

The Sept. 6 Saturday Column lamented the “liberal media.” A reader questioned this premise in a subsequent letter in the Public Forum. The Sept. 13 column offers more of the same, again pointing to “the liberal media” and stating, “There are double standards.”

This is a myth perpetrated by the right; whenever they are called out for their numerous failings, they whine that they are being picked on by “the liberal media.”

Here are the facts: From the LA Times, July 27, 2008, “The Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, where researchers have tracked network news content for two decades, found that ABC, NBC and CBS were tougher on Obama than on Republican John McCain during the first six weeks of the general election campaign.

“You read it right: tougher on the Democrat.

“During the evening news, the majority of statements from reporters and anchors on all three networks are neutral, the center found. And when network news people ventured opinions in recent weeks, 28 percent of the statements were positive for Obama and 72 percent negative.

“Network reporting also tilted against McCain, but far less dramatically, with 43 percent of the statements positive and 57 percent negative, according to the Washington-based media center.”

Similar studies of the print media have yielded comparable results. Check out “What Liberal Media?” by Eric Alterman.

So, let’s dispense with the sermons on bias, not only are they misleading, but in all due respect, isn’t the Saturday Column written by one of the, allegedly, “liberal media”?

Doug Burger,
Lawrence