Does Fox News Know What Media Bias Is?

By Bill Maher

If there's one drum the right wing likes to bang it's the one about the "liberal media", which, by law, must appear in every right-wing editorial or come out of the mouths of every Fox News and radio show pundit at least four times a day or Rupert Murdoch strips you of your wingnut accreditation.

Claiming "liberal bias" is like a tick. If you make up a scandal and it doesn't get reported to your satisfaction, it's not because the whole Solyndra thing was a great big nothingburger, it's because the liberal media is protecting the president. If Sarah Palin says something stupid and it gets reported, it's not because Sarah Palin said something stupid. It's because the liberal media has it out for strong conservative women who quit their jobs and do nothing for years.

And to this end, Fox News' website now has this thing called "BIAS ALERT." And each day, in bright red letters, they post some example of what they think is "liberal bias." 

Except there's only one small problem: it's almost never an example of media bias. What they seem to have uncovered is that ...grab hold of something ...not everyone is a Republican.

Take this effort about Andrew Sullivan:

"BIAS ALERT: Pundit Warns Of Romney's 'Global War'"

Daily Beast columnist Andrew Sullivan warns that Romney will launch 'new global war' if elected

...Yes, Andrew Sullivan is not a fan of Mitt Romney. But how is this evidence of media bias? Andrew Sullivan is not a reporter. He's a blogger and columnist. He's not held to some standard where he's not allowed to be partisan, or to express his personal views. That's what he does. It's like saying Charles Krauthammer is biased. The bit might as well be called "PEOPLE WHO SAY THINGS WE DON'T LIKE."

Other recent recipients of Fox’s "BIAS ALERT" include David Letterman, whose monologues are apparently bound by the standards of fair journalism, and Mother Jones, the liberal magazine that busted Romney on his 47% comments. How dare they not agree with Mitt Romney on everything, and then say so?

This is almost sort of refreshing. Because it means that 95% of the time we have to sit through some wingnut screeching about liberal media bias, they don't actually understand who is actually bound to a standard of journalism (journalists) and who isn't (everyone else). They're just upset that people exist outside their bubble and they don't believe the same things they do.

So to recap: reality is now evidence of media bias. And so are people with opinions.