The Solution to Media Bias: A Modest ProposalMike Rappaport

This statement by John Malone about media bias has gotten a lot of play.  Of course, one can easily find evidence of bias just by reading the newspaper.  Tonight, I looked at the New York Times website.  On a day when the Dow went up nearly 11 percent, the Times has nothing on the front page of the website on it.  If one clicks to the Business Section, they do have a story, with the headline: "Even as Dow Soars 11%, Skeptics Lurk." 

People have been debating how important the media bias is.  Count me in the group who says, "very important."  I won't try to defend that claim here.  But I think it is clearly true. 

So the question is, is there a solution to the problem?  And you know what, there is a simple solution -- one that might not entirely cure the problem, but would go enormous steps towards constraining it.

It is regulation of the composition of media employees based on political views.  My guess is that the New York Times has about 80 to 90 percent Democrats.  Simply require that there be an even number of Republicans and Democrats at the Times.  Yes, there are all kinds of complications, but put those to the side.  They are details that can be addressed.

If the Commanding Heights of our information society had to be half conservative and half liberal, there would be much less liberal bias.  The usual arguments for integration would apply here.  Conservatives would have much more power to stop the bias.  Moreover, the fact that they were present in the newsrooms would make it harder for liberals to get away with biased claims without being challenged.  

Of course, many readers may say, "you have got to be kidding.  That would interfere with the First Amendment and would have many of the same problems as other similar types of regulations, like affirmative action." 

Well, maybe.  But at least recognize this.  If the bias were conservative bias instead of liberal bias, there is no doubt that liberals would be arguing for something like this.  How do I know?  Because they do it all of the time.  In academia and other places, racial or gender "imbalance" leads to strong calls for affirmative action.  More importantly, when conservatives appear to have an advantage in an area of the media, like talk radio, many liberals call for the Fairness Doctrine (which is very similar to my proposal).   Just think about that.  We are witnesses tremendous liberal bias in favor of Obama, and liberals want to regulate conservative talk radio, while leaving the Commanding Heights of the information society -- where they dominate -- unrestricted.  Just amazing.

Update: Some people seem to be missing my meaning here.  My subtitle of "A Modest Proposal" is a reference to Jonathan Swift's satirical essay "where he suggests that the impoverished Irish might ease their economic troubles by selling children as food for rich gentlemen and ladies."  My point in making this proposal is not to actually recommend it, but to point out that it would address the bias problem and that liberals would go for this type of thing if the shoe were on the other foot.