WB: Panel Discussion on Media Bias

Radio talk show host Roger Hedgecock moderated the panel. On the panel were author Myrna Blyth, John Fund of the Wall Street Journal, and Rich Lowry of National Review.

Blythe talked about The View and how women are often strongly influenced by the opinions of other women, they want to agree with their friends. She said a lot of women's discussions on public policy include a fixation on victimhood. She said Elizabeth Hasselbeck shouldn't be the only woman in media to express a different point of view. She also condemned the Danny DeVito interview on the View and how he was drunk during the interview and how he told of disrespectful behavior when he had stayed in the Lincoln Bedroom in the White House; Blythe asked why people didn't speak up against this behavior in their White House.

Fund criticised the unstated implication from the "lame-stream, I mean 'mainstream' media" that the election is already over and we know who is going to win. He said our country is one that leans conservative, and when a campaign begins the way the liberal media short circuits the information process is to essentially declare the election over and demoralize the opposition. He also mentioned many of the things this congress has wasted it's time on, such as Harry Reid and other Democrats condemning Rush Limbaugh for something he didn't say...but Limbaugh getting the last laugh by auctioning their letter of condemnation on eBay for $2.1 million dollars (and matching and donating the money to the education of children of Marines and law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty).

Lowry said there are a lot of honorable reporters out there, but the cultural problem is that they live in a liberal culture and don't even see their own biases. He recalls the reaction of a journalist who couldn't understand how Nixon was elected because she knew no one who voted for him. He said he had visited Iraq and that it is a scandal that some people say they support the troops but won't support the work that goes on there on the ground. He said the media is vested into an air of defeat. Lowry said there are alternate means of information now, including talk radio and the blogosphere. He said if the Dan Rather Memogate scandal had happened before the blogosphere he would have gotten away with the fake memo about President Bush's National Guard service. He said we should modify Reagan's statement about the Soviets when it comes to the media: "Don't trust and verify."

Hedgecock asked Blythe how a male candidate appeals to women voters. She said that they need to encourage women to examine the issues. She said right now Clinton is pandering to women and trying to draw them in. You need a tough candidate who forces Clinton to talk about the issues.

Hedgecock asked Fund about the independent voter and what issues Clinton is vulnerable in. Fund said she has campaigned as a "born again moderate." He said the truth is she was far more involved in the radical policies of Bill Clinton's administration than most people realized. He said the Bush tax cuts may disappear in 2010, and the Democrats are looking at that renewed revenue as "manna from Heaven."

Blythe said the media will be pressuring women to vote for Clinton because she is a woman and they are women. Lowry said there is a gender gap, and that men are far less enthusiastic about Clinton.