One medium with a liberal bias: books

[carolinayellowdog]

Hey,

Talk radio is horribly, overwhelmingly biased against liberals-- and against truth. Cable TV news is only slightly less so, Keith Olbermann being the main counterweight to conservative domination. Network news tries to appear evenhanded but is sycophantic towards the powerful, who at the moment are rightwing extremists. Print journalism is a mixed bag but leans Republican in recent years. The blogosphere is one information medium where we seem to have a slight advantage, with the liberal blogs having a growing influence while the rightwing blogs appear ever more ridiculous.

But the world of books, for reasons I can't fathom, is much more solidly biased in favor of truth, which in current historical context means anti-administration criticism. One would think that with electronic media so dominant and book readership so small by comparison, this advantage wouldn't amount to much. But Woodward's current tome is heartening to this old librarian, reminding me that books have a greater power to frame political discussion than readership statistics would imply. Tens of millions of people who will never read State of Denial, or Fiasco, or Hubris, still have digested their main points thanks to the echo chambers of TV and radio. Each of those books is devastating to the Bush administration's propaganda about Iraq, and there is absolutely no counterweight. No serious author has written any book that adds credibility to this incredible maladministration.

I was as despairing as any DUer last week about the Democratic party and the future of this country. But what a difference a week makes. Woodward, despite all his past sins, has done more to focus attention on the important issues than most of us ever imagined possible. The Foley affair certainly amplifies the message that our government is incompetent, corrupt, and dishonest. But all these points had already been raised by the discussion of Woodward's book.

What I take from this is that we should never give up hope on truth prevailing and the American people waking up from their propaganda-induced coma. Despite their strong pro-Bush bias, TV and radio cannot *make* the news, but only slant it. Books can and do *make* news, and sometimes in a way that simply can't be slanted to Bush's favor.

CYD

[Heidi]

1. Recommended.

And kicked.

:kick:

[laconicsax]

2. Or more to the point I think,

The one medium with a liberal bias: reality.

[Heidi]

3. .

:thumbsup: