National Post: John Moore: Fox to balance Canada’s right-wing media bias?

[tuvor]

You can already hear the backpedalling from the people behind a new right-wing TV news network for Canada. Spokespeople and purported stars such as Ezra Levant are downplaying the possibility that it will resemble Fox News in the United States. They insist it won’t be right wing; it will simply bring a new perspective. But then that’s what Fox News claims as well. Its slogan is “We report, you decide”–though the record shows that much of its programming would be better represented by the line “We pass on Republican talking points and you nod.”

Now don’t get me wrong. I love the idea of a new network. It’s good for business and I have a record of being the house liberal in conservative media outlets, so bring it on. But where’s the need? Canadian conservatives already have talk radio, the Sun newspaper chain, the National Post and Maclean’s. In television the news operations tend to be largely non-partisan. The right has always been apoplectic over the CBC but the charge of systemic bias remains one of those gut things conservatives feel but can never prove.

The greatest con job ever pulled by the American right was the notion that the mainstream media (MSM) is overwhelmingly liberal. This false premise has not only permitted the creation of overtly partisan conservative media but it has caused the MSM to overbalance for fear of being perceived as liberal. The joke during George W. Bush’s years in office was that if he announced the Earth was flat the headline would read “Shape of Planet in Dispute.”

The right will breathlessly quote from various studies they insist prove the case of a left wing bias. One famous 1996 investigation established that 89% of all journalists had voted for Bill Clinton. It turned out a survey had been mailed out randomly to anyone with any manner of press credentials in Washington, less than half of whom responded. Even if a majority did vote for Clinton, big deal. A bunch of university-educated urbanites voted for the Democrat in an election that featured the worst performance by a Republican presidential candidate since Alf Landon (1932 if you’re taking notes).

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http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/06/15/john-moore-fox-to-balance-canadas-right-wing-media-bias/