Righting the liberal news slant

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Feb 25, 2002 | by Christian Toto

Rare is the honors ceremony in which none of the chosen are present to accept their awards. But no one expected them to turn up at the Media Research Center's second annual Dishonor Awards, of course. Excoriating the no-shows was half the fun. Once again, the "ceremony" at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center took aim at 2001's most outrageously biased liberal reporters.

Dan Rather, Bryant Gumbel and Diane Sawyer headed the list of those taking their lumps during an evening as unabashedly partisan to the right as its guests contend the media is to the left. With names such as the "Bring Back Bubba Award" and the "Gilligan Award for Flakiest Comment of the Year," organizers pulled no punches. Neither did those assembled, who threw haymaker after haymaker at the media elite while giggling over a skein of ludicrous news clips compiled by the Alexandria, Va.-based center, which assiduously tracks left-leaning morsels doled out by traditional media outlets.

At a boisterous pre-gala reception, center founder and President L. Brent Bozell III said the public's perception of media bias has grown dramatically since his organization began its work in 1987. "You can look at all the surveys," he said "The public believes the information it's getting is subjective opinion, not objective truth. They're seeing the bias. They're looking for alternative markets, hence the growth of [cable TV's] Fox News [channel]."

The conservative confab included master of ceremonies Cal Thomas, William F. Buckley Jr., former Rep. Robert K. Dornan, Capital Gang panelist Kate O'Beirne and the Wall Street Journal's John Fund. Fund underscored the evening's message while announcing the nominees for several Dishonor Awards. "There is no vast right-wing conspiracy," he said. "But there is a concentrated, focused and alert one, and it's in this room tonight."

CHRISTIAN TOTO WRITES FOR Insight's SISTER DAILY, THE WASHINGTON TIMES.