On a daily basis, Republicans and their right-wing propagandists, such as Laura Ingraham, claim “media bias” whenever some aspect of reality does not suit their ideological passions, or in some cases, fit the reality they want to see over the one that is present. An examination of facts surrounding this charge of “liberal media bias” paints a vastly different picture than the one Republicans wish to peddle.

In recent years, Federal Communications Commission regulations in place to ensure that American media would not be monopolized, since media were and are the conduit to “objective” information needed to support a vibrant democracy, were rewritten to allow the largest consolidation of media in the history of the United States. This process is continuing, with the FCC, under its Republican chairman, expected to allow further media consolidation.

This media consolidation is not “liberal” – far from it. The fact is that the largest sweep of media in America is now dominated by large corporations that have reconfigured their news divisions not for “fairness” to allow widespread political discourse, but quite the opposite, service primarily to one political ideology.

The media consolidation in the U.S. and subsequent one-sided ideological approach never occurred among the big three media that are accused of having a “liberal bias,” strangely enough the accusation often parroted by the very media that has proven itself to be anything but “fair and balanced.”

It’s time to bring back the fairness doctrine for truth and balance in media again.

Mark Tardiff

Waterville