orb@whuxl.UUCP (SEVENER) (03/17/86)
Many people have questioned my claims of media bias. Others have
stated that there is always freedom of speech, regardless of
access to public places like Malls, by using the electronic media.
If nothing else, according to the free market, one should simply
be able to *BUY* time on TV to present one's opinions.
Mobil Oil does it, Polluting Companies do it to prove they are
not polluting, so surely citizens concerned about population
control, preventing war and other issues should *at least*
be able to *BUY* time on TV to present their opinions.
Alas, this is *not* the case. Moreover the way in which requests
for *paid* time are turned down graphically illustrates media bias.
A report in the March 9, 1986 New York Times reveals this bias
quite clearly (p.56):
(quoted w.o. permission)
"The National Conservative Political Action Committee says it
will spend $1.5 million on a campaign to sell Americans on aid
to the rebels (sic) in Nicaragua. The advertisements advance
a kind of Central American domino theory with a 30-second spot
depicting Mexican Communist terrorists(my note: the "rebels"
are of course, *not* "terrorists") sneaking across the border,
each with the goal of murdering 10 Americans. (My note:
plausible scenario eh?!!) Another conservative group, the
National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty, says it
will spend $2 million on its ads, which assail the Sandinista
Government of Nicaragua and suggest links to Libyan terrorists.
"Meanwhile, Neighbor to Neighbor, a San Francisco-based group,
says it is having great difficulty buying air time for
"Faces of War", a 30-minute program that portrays conditions in
Nicaragua and El Salvador and takes a strong stand against
American support for the Nicaragua rebels (my note, once
again we note that the NY Times has decided that the Contras
are "rebels" while it is somehow obvious that "Mexican Communists"
depicted in right-wing ads are "terrorists"-double think in action!)
"Nick Allen, executive director of Neighbor to Neighbor, said more than
100 television stations around the country had refused to sell
air time to broadcast the program, whose host is Mike Farrell, the
"B.J." of the old M*A*S*H television series. Many stations,
Mr. Allen said, called it too controversial or "unbalanced"
"In Washington, four stations refused the program, he said, but a
fifth, WTTG, Channel 5,is among about 30 around the country that
accepted it and will show the program at 11:30 tonight."
I find this sort of censorship and blatant bias contradicts claims
that (a)there is a "liberal" bias in the media (quite the opposite
is *indeed* the case) (b) one can always *BUY* time to present
one's opinions. Certainly a 30-minute program, while more in-depth,
is harder to put on. But then again the American College of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists has been among many groups denied
access even to 30-second spots on late-night TV.
tim sevener whuxn!orb