The whole topic of bias in the media is humorous to me. The liberal bias on TV is obvious to any conservative, but to any liberal TV is seen as neutral. They (liberals) generally agree with what they hear on TV news, but find something they disagree with from time to time as evidence that there is no bias. The exception is Fox. I watch Fox a lot, when there is nothing on network TV that I want to watch. Fox is good about combatting bias in their news presentation, and they usually get both liberals and conservatives in their commentary. They’re seen as biased by the left because the conservatives have a stronger argument most of the time. Try watching CNN sometime and notice that when they have discussions (not news), they will get 3-4 liberals for every conservative. Actually, since Fox got so big, they do this less and less, but they do still do it. The liberals can’t win by argument, so they try to win by sheer numbers. Radio is a whole other can of worms. I don’t think liberals care to actually listen to political talk radio. They will come when there is a liberal with a new radio show, to show their support, but they quickly lose interest and the shows lose listenership and die out. Liberals are generally elitist, and don’t like their views to be presented as liberal. They want people to think they are mainstream and unbiased. This is where I think conservatism is strong. Conservatives recognize their own bias and make no bones about it. They don’t try to hide it or present it as mainstream at all; and to their credit, one’s views shouldn’t be based upon how many people agree, but the strength of the view itself.
What’s most humorous to me is to watch the liberal media, generally the established comglomorates in the big cities, throw a fuss because of the increased popularity of internet news sites that are run by more conservative editors such as World Net Daily and The Drudge Report. World Net Daily has made quite a name for itself in that it is not only mostly conservative, but run by a Christian. They have risen to be the most read news site on the web. Why isn’t there a liberal counterpart to WND? Because it is much easier to turn on CNN or CBS Evening News than it is to log onto the internet and read your news.
I think with time, the various news sources will end up becoming a balance to each other, and overall will counter each other’s bias, rather than each source moving individually towards being unbiased. What could easy prove that hunch to be wrong is if the liberal side were to acknowledge their own bias and begin to allow it to be countered (they are the ones who love to “have a discussion”), they may begin to swing things in a new directions and draw an audience back to the established outlets such as TV and Newspapers. Unless that happens, their audience will continue to see through their “objectiveness” and go elsewhere.