Now there's a difference that truly deserves to be called staggering. Certainly critics on the left haven't been silent about what they take to be conservative bias in the media, whether in the pages of political reviews or in dozens of recent books. But the press has given their charges virtually no attention, while giving huge play to complaints from the right about liberal bias."" Those numbers show that the media are slanted in favor of critics like Goldberg, which helps explain why his book sold so well despite its intellectual vacuity.
Blubbering about liberal control of the media is a trick every professional conservative can perform, like a grifter working an old but reliable con. Among self-respecting rightists, however, this bogus grievance has been an inside joke for many years. Most of them can keep a straight face and avoid snickering when some boob starts griping earnestly about "liberal media bias."" (The boob is usually a struggling cable TV host "someone like Jerry Nachman or Mike Barnicle "who hopes to ingratiate himself with the right and lure a few more viewers to watch his show.) Sophisticated conservatives know better, but occasionally one of them blurts out the truth.
Back in 1995, the witty and sometimes candid conservative commentator Bill Kristol confessed that his movement had little reason to complain. "I admit it,"" Kristol told the New Yorker. "The liberal media were never that powerful, and the whole thing was often used as an excuse by conservatives for conservative failures."" (Evidently Kristol, who edits the Weekly Standard, still hasn't let his coeditor, Fred Barnes, in on the joke. Barnes continues to solemnly flog "liberal bias- in their magazine and on Fox News Channel.) Rush Limbaugh made a similar point after the midterm election, when he gloated over Democratic complaints about right-wing talk radio. "There's been a massive change in media in this country over the last fifteen years,"" he said.
