Mainstream media

The mainstream media consist primarily of those media organs that existed in the United States of America prior to 1987, and especially any of those media organs that continue to exist today.

Background of the definition

In 1987, the Federal Communications Commission voted 4-0 to revoke, and cancel their enforcement of, the Fairness Doctrine. That doctrine mandated that if any opinion considered "controversial" were ever discussed on the public airwaves, the station over which that opinion aired was required to give equal time to any person wishing to reply. However, the FCC never set a standard about interpretations of current events that might be disputable, nor even examined that issue.

With the revocation of the Fairness Doctrine, radio and television stations were now permitted to air any opinion or interpretation of the news, no matter how "controversial," without regard to the giving of "equal time."

On August 1, 1988, a new radio commentator named Rush Limbaugh began broadcasting in national syndication. The alternative media was born.

List of mainstream media organs

The mainstream media are operationally considered to consist of the following organs:

• The New York Times
• The Washington Post
• The Boston Globe
• The Philadelphia Inquirer
• The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• The Los Angeles Times
• The San Francisco Chronicle
• USA Today
• The Wall Street Journal
• All major, standard-newspaper-format dailies that have existed since before the Fairness Doctrine repeal.

• Associated Press
• United Press International
• Reuters

• CBS
• NBC
• ABC
• National Public Radio
• Public Broadcasting Service
• The Cable News Network

Fox News is not "mainstream media" within this definition, because they are opposed to everything that most MSM executive and city editors stand for. One need only compare the programming decisions and editorial positions of Fox News on one hand, and the consensus of Mainstream Media organs on the other, to reach this conclusion. Also, the Democratic presidential candidates will not appear on presidential debates hosted by Fox News, but they will appear on all the other debates hosted by the Mainstream Media.

MSM

Both Conservatives and Liberals use the acronym MSM to describe the mainstream media and its apparent bias against their viewpoint.

Mainstream Media

CBS

In 2006 CBS.com wrote an article on blogs which accurately describes the conservative view of the MSM:

The blog format is only a couple of years old. But already, there's a tension between many bloggers and what they derisively call the MSM, the mainstream media. "They don't believe that you are unbiased, objective, fair a lot of times. And so what they want is they want to read a lot of different sources themselves. because they don't trust the mainstream media…that would be ya'll," says Darr.

CNN

In 2006 CNN.com has an article from columnist R. Emmett Tyrell Jr. entitled "Tyrell: Goodbye MSM... and good riddance!" The article talks about the alternative press vs the MSM:

So we hear this week that President George W. Bush is taking delight in the spread of the "alternative press" (read conservatives on the internet, in talk radio, in print, and at Fox) and the gentle detumesence of "mainstream media" (read liberal media, or more precisely, Democratic media). Well I join him in his satisfaction.

References and notes

[1], [2], [3]