Roasting Most Outrageously Biased Liberal Reporters of 2002

Right-Wing Media Gleefully Roast Liberal 'Enemy'
Sunday, April 6, 2003
Right-Wing Media Gleefully Roast Liberal 'Enemy'
By By Michael Coleman
Journal Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON ?- The capital's conservative media establishment recently took a break from the gloom of war to poke some fun at their more liberal colleagues.
Nearly 1,000 conservatives descended on a swank Washington hotel late last month to watch right-leaning media stars, such as Cal Thomas, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, roast the "enemy."
The ripest targets were fairly predictable: unabashed liberal diva Barbra Streisand, former Bill Clinton spokesman-turned-ABC newsman George Stephanopoulos and PBS' Bill Moyers.
The $150-a-plate dinner, dubbed the "Dishonor Awards," was hosted by the Media Research Center, which tracks and exposes what it views as the worst-of-the-worst in liberal media spin.
Regardless of your political bent, you had to admire the production values. Huge television screens surrounded the banquet room, giving attendees larger-than-life glimpses of their media heroes. Flag-waving country music legend Charlie Daniels tore through a blistering set of patriotic tunes to close the show.
As the audience dined on filet mignon and sipped merlot, L. Brent Bozell III, the center's founder, made clear his view that there is no place for media who question the U.S. war against Iraq.
"They're aligned with the protest Army; we're aligned with the U.S. Army," he said, triggering perhaps the most enthusiastic cheers of the evening. "This is not Vietnam, and this time you're not going to undermine U.S. resolve."
"The Ozzy Osbourne Award" for the "Wackiest Comment of the Year" went to ABC correspondent David Wright, who questioned the legitimacy of an Iraqi election seven years ago in which Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein "won" 99.6 percent of the vote.
"It's impossible to say whether that's a true measure of the Iraqi people's feeling," Wright said.
Meanwhile, the "I'm Not a Geopolitical Genius But I Play One on T.V." award went to actress Jessica Lange.
Lange, during an interview at a film festival in Spain, said, "It's an embarrassing time to be an American. It really is. It's humiliating," adding that she "despised" President Bush.
The "Quote of the Year" award went to Moyers, who said, in part, "the entire federal government ?- the Congress, the executive, the courts ?- is united behind a right-wing agenda for which George W. Bush believes he now has a mandate."
None of the award recipients, of course, was on hand to bask in the honors.
And not all of the arrows hit their mark. My entire table groaned when Ann Coulter, the conservative media's designated sex symbol, tossed a grenade at C-SPAN. She said the cable network has failed to reflect all sides of the public debate on the war in Iraq, choosing to focus instead on "homeless" protesters.
Maybe she wasn't aware that C-SPAN, which has a deserved reputation for providing the most unvarnished coverage of Washington politics, was actually taping the award ceremony and planned to air it at a later date.
"Damn it, Ann," a publicist for the event muttered, shaking her head.
"You can't knock C-SPAN," another guy at the table said.
Of course, there are other views about the true influence of liberal media. FOX News is now at least as influential as CNN, and conservative ranters dominate the talk-radio airwaves.
In a new book titled "What Liberal Media?: The Truth About Bias and the News," Eric Alterman, a columnist for The Nation, argues that conservatives have leveled the playing field through well-funded, well-organized media channels.
"Unbeknownst to millions of Americans who continue to believe that the media are genuinely liberal ?- or that conservatives and liberals are engaged in a fair fight of relative equality ?- liberals are fighting a near-hopeless battle in which they are enormously outmatched," Alterman wrote.
For a full list of the Dishonor Awards and the comments that precipitated them, visit the Media Research Center's website at www.mrc.org.

What's funny (not really) about this is that the right wing has taken over the country, yet they still have events like this to whine about the so-called liberal media. As though conservatives are still outsiders. Yet they control the White House, Congress, Supreme Court, Fox News, major radio networks...

This was the theme of a recent piece in the Seattle Weekly, and very apt, I might add.

I wish people wouldn't listen to the Pied Piper of conservatism. How untruths like the liberality of the media can be spread is beyond me.