On Oct. 19, local conservative blogger Mark Finkelstein — of Newsbusters.org, the Ithaca public access talk show RightAngle, and his own Finkelblog — brought a perspective the independent media class that we had not yet heard.
From discussions in class, and my own reading and growing knowledge of independent media and their necessity, I had come to think that the majority of indy outlets is politically left-leaning to counter mainstream outlets, the majority of which is politically right-leaning. Naturally, there are several conservative indies (ie, the National Review) but there are many more progressive ones.
But the motivation behind Finkelstein's blogging, and the purpose of Newsbusters.org, is to counter what he called the liberal mainstream media. What an idea!
Yes, Finkelstein centers much of his MSM critique on MSNBC programming, which is (arguably) the cable news network that sits farther to the left on the political spectrum than its major competitors, Fox and CNN.
His point of view made me think; How is it that people can watch the same news channels and interpret them so differently that one person describes the MSM as liberal, while another discusses its takeover by conservatives?
I asked Finkelstein this question after class. He didn't have much of an answer for me. One week later, I don't know that I am any closer to one myself.
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