In response to Bruce Causey’s letter to the editor on leftist domination of the media, I have to wonder whether he has ever considered the problem might be with him rather than with the media.

“I noticed, as a conservative – everything I read or heard on the news contradicted what I had an opinion about,” Causey said. I guess when you are only interested in media that confirms what you already believe, the news has a tendency to seem biased against you.

Admittedly though, the right hardly has a monopoly on selective hearing. It’s something we all do; the problem is sorting the occasional genuine bad reporting from the reporting that just doesn’t go the way one wants it to.

However, if conservatives like Causey are so concerned about biased media, it raises the question of why conservatives have been so opposed to bringing back the Fairness Doctrine.

The Fairness Doctrine was the unofficial name of a Federal Communications Commission policy mandating television and radio stations give equal time to opposing sides on issues of public or political importance. Although the policy’s constitutionality was upheld by the Supreme Court, it was done away with in 1987 by a Republican-controlled FCC. Ever since, it has been conservatives that have fought to prevent a return of the Fairness Doctrine.

My point is, if conservatives are so concerned about “the liberal media,” why are they so opposed to bringing back a rule mandating both sides of issues get airtime? Could it perhaps be, in the light of the subsequent rise of conservative talk radio and Fox News, their real problem with the media was that sides other than their own were being heard? Could it perhaps be “the liberal media” is just a useful myth designed to intimidate journalists into censoring themselves and going soft on conservatives?

Kevin Wagner

Senior, political science major