Ed Schultz claimed that conservative ownership over nearly every media entity is part of the reason why the recent coverage on Obamacare has been unfavorable. “Fact of the matter is 90 percent of the electronic media which is owned in this country is owned by conservatives,” the MSNBC host claimed on his show on Wednesday evening.
While Schultz conceded that conservative media such as talk radio have been effective in their messaging, he blamed it for “putting people in a very entrenched way of thinking.” Without the Fairness Doctrine, he whined, the Left doesn’t have an opportunity to broadcast their views, which could ultimately cripple causes such as Obamacare.
Schultz’s so-called fact is presumably based on this graphic that highlights media consolidation, with six companies, including Viacom and Time Warner, owning about 90 percent of the media landscape. Yet, in no way does it indicate that they’re controlled by a vast conservative conspiracy, as Schultz claims.
In fact, if there was a conspiracy, then they’re not doing a very good job at it.According to a September Gallup poll, about half of Americans see the media as being “too liberal,” compared with 13 percent who see it as “too conservative.” Even among Democrats, roughly the same percentage find the media to be “too conservative” as they do “too liberal,” 21 percent and 19 percent respectively.
Ed “Let’s get to work” Schultz could have done a bit more work looking at the information on the subject rather than just making baseless claims. Then again, he wouldn’t have much of a show if he did.
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