The myth of liberal bias in the press

C'mon folks. An overabundance of liberal bias in the mainstream media? Hogwash!

Just more evidence that false perceptions can easily become accepted realities if repeated over and over. The extreme and predominant liberal bias of mainstream newspapers perceived by many is little more than a widespread myth about the front pages and editorial pages where the news and commentary is about politics and politicians. That's all.

Even The New York Times has commentary expressing both liberal and conservative views.

Perhaps the myth emanates from the heated and volatile world of opposing political ideologies. Liberal-leaning voters consistently outnumber conservative-leaning voters, so a common and widespread strategy of conservative opinion leaders has been to portray political conservatives as underdogs unfairly victimized by the mainstream press.

And we have seen numerous elections, including the most recent one, where the "enshrinement of victimization" has proven itself to be a potent political strategy. The myth of liberal media bias is thus perpetuated and the conservatively biased attack-dog news sources have a field day presenting their own biased news and commentary, attracting the wrath and distrust of liberals and moderates.

The myth continues and is regrettably nurtured by news and commentary printed by mainstream newspapers trying to do a balanced job. But political myths are like cockroaches. Hard to exterminate once they infest an environment. Maybe the best solution for a newspaper like the Daily Herald is to discontinue printing knee-jerk politically biased columns that are easily distinguished as being "conservative" or "liberal." Instead, only publish single-issue "guest" essays on the editorial pages that are thoughtful and well-researched and fairly represent both pro and con positions.

Give the readers fodder for intelligent thought rather than just more political bickering.

George Peternel

Arlington Heights