September 23, 2002
The media often describes people and groups as "conservative" while hardly ever attaching the label "liberal" to anyone. Although this descriptive usage is more common in the United States, it is also found in the Canadian media. Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma bomber, was inevitably always referred to as a "right wing extremist". While this characterization was accurate, he was no more "right wing" than the Unabomber was "left wing". But Ted Kaczynski was never referred to as left wing. If he was described at all, it was as a former mathematics professor. McVeigh never had the words "Gulf War Veteran" following his name. South of the border, Republican politicians are often referred to as "the conservative senator" or "the conservative congressman". Ted Kennedy, on the other hand, a member of the left wing of the Democratic Party is never referred to as "the liberal Senator from Massachusetts".
A National Post article by Deputy Ottawa Bureau Chief, Sheldon Alberts, reported on Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper’s interview on American television concerning Jean Chrétien’s views that the September 11 attacks were caused by the greed and arrogance of the West. The article, published on September 14, stated that Harper was interviewed on "the conservative Fox news cable network." Despite the exhortation of neutrality from the "We report, you decide" network, Fox can fairly be characterized as conservative. But when do you ever see networks such as "the liberal CBC" or "liberal CNN" described as they truly are? Never. Only conservative labels are attached. And there is a reason for this.
The vast majority of those in the media are small "l" liberals. They tend to come from middle or upper class families living in large cities and have degrees from liberal colleges and universities. Their view of the world is from a liberal perspective that they consider normal. And when something is normal, it need not have an accompanying label.
Studies have been conducted in the United States regarding the political views of journalists. In the 1972 presidential elections, Richard Nixon carried 49 states with 62 per cent of the popular vote. In a survey obtained from Media Research Center in Alexandria Virginia, 81 per cent of journalists voted for George McGovern. And when Ronald Reagan was re-elected in 1984 with a massive majority, journalists voted 2 to 1 for Walter Mondale. U.S. journalists were significantly to the left of the general population.
There is no reason to think that the Canadian media is any different, except for the fact that we have few outlets that could be described as conservative. Citytv, an independent Toronto television station, prides itself on its diversity. It has, or had, on-air personalities that are women, gays and lesbians, people of colour, and the physically challenged. It can even be argued that at least one on-air newscaster is mentally challenged. The company’s 24-hour news station, CP24 currently has 37 on-air newspersons. Out of the 37, 24 graduated from post secondary institutions in Ontario including six graduates of Ryerson and seven who hold degrees from the University of Toronto. All of these Ontario institutions are known for fostering liberal viewpoints. Citytv’s staff is diverse in every way--except in the way that they think.
Holding certain political opinions and viewpoints does not automatically result in on-air or in-print bias, but given the dynamics, most bias that does appear, is liberal. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien made comments concerning the events of September 11 that were, to say the least, newsworthy and controversial. There was nothing unusual about a television network in the U.S., any network, from wanting to air the views of Harper, the Leader of the Official Opposition, on a subject that is of interest to Americans Even if you accept the fact that only the conservative media would be interested in airing the views of the conservative Harper, the label "liberal" would not have been attached in other circumstances.
Will we ever see Alberts write about the liberal CBC? Don’t hold your breath.
Arthur Weinreb is a lawyer and author and Associate Editor of Canadafreepress.com
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