Useless Idiots--and Wrong Besides

On Tuesday, 38 Congressmen sent a letter to Rupert Murdoch accusing the FOX network of "unfair and unbalanced" bias toward Republicans. "The responsibility of the media is to report the news in an unbiased, impartial and objective manner," the letter reads. Naturally, none of the signatories are Republicans--37 Democrats plus "Independent" Bernie Sanders (Vt.), a 100 % perfect liberal according to the ACLU.

The letter is crazy in every way:

1. News has always been biased, never impartial. Broadsheet newspapers in 17th and early 18th Century America usually were affiliated with a political party. This link faded to some extent when the Federalist party disappeared, but returned with the Whig and then Republican parties. When conservatives complain about leftist press bias, the point is the unacknowledged liberal slant by media professing political objectivity. (No wonder: the NY Times says Washington-based reporters favor Kerry over Bush 12-1!) And, of course, a conservative columnist's objection cannot be compared to a cabal of lefty Congressman.



2. Congress cannot lawfully arbitrate or regulate press balance. See U.S. Const, Amdt I ("Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press").



3. Mere Congressional "pressure" creates a chilling effect on free speech. A legislative threat, even though actual legislation would be unconstitutional, itself "abridg[es] the freedom of speech"--as the letter-writers undoubtedly know. Courts uniformly have voided such "non-regulation regulation" when administrative agencies "bluster" in excess of their authority. The FCC in particular, has a long history of employing:

   a variety of sub silentio pressures and "raised eyebrow" regulation of program content .... The practice of forwarding viewer or listener complaints to the broadcaster with a request for a formal response to the FCC, the prominent speech or statement by a Commissioner or Executive official, the issuance of notices of inquiry ... all serve as means for communicating official pressures to the licensee.

   Community-Service Broadcasting of Mid-America, Inc. v. FCC, 593 F.2d 1102, 1116 (D.C. Cir. 1978) (en banc).



4. FOX is not particularly biased toward Republicans. Outrageous you say; everyone knows FOX News is pro-Bush. Perhaps--but every time I tune in, FOX airs both liberal and conservative commentators. Try finding conservatives on ABC, CBS or NBC (except the not-more-than-one token on Sunday morning); forget spotting a "righty" (as opposed to a mis-labeled "moderate") on PBS/NPR at all.
   
   Further evidence--an email I received from FOX News at 8:45 this morning:

   JULY PAYROLLS ADD 32,000, FAR LESS THAN ANTICIPATED 247,000; UNEMPLOYMENT DIPS ONE-TENTH OF A POINT TO 5.5. PERCENT

   Is this report biased toward Bush? Hardly--it's written entirely backward. As I've said before, the press--including FOX--consistently characterizes identical unemployment numbers differently depending on who's in the White House. The unemployment rate was 5.6 percent in November 1996--when Clinton coasted to victory based, in large part, on the perception his approach to the "economy, stupid" was a success. Today's unemployment rate is less, but the press--even FOX!--won't report the numbers without adding an alarming editorial. Without even altering "loaded" words (e.g., "dips" "far"), a more neutral version of the same report would read:

   UNEMPLOYMENT DIPS ONE-TENTH OF A POINT TO 5.5; JULY PAYROLLS ADD 32,000, FAR LESS THAN ANTICIPATED

   If this FOX headline is pro-Bush, the 38 Congressional authors must be even more extreme than the Senate's most liberal member!

In sum, I agree with Jeff Jarvis:

If [Congress doesn't like FOX], then what about AirAmerica, which is on public airwaves, which are regulated by the government? If they think government should regulate what Murdoch can say on cable, don't they realize that they set the precedent for government to regulate what AirAmerica says on broadcast... or what you and I say on the Internet.

Dangerous twits.

These 38 Congressman are dangerous--unfair and unbalanced as well.