Dan Gainor2:31p.m. EST January 3, 2013
For all the complaints about the leftward tilt in American journalism, it's nothing compared to news operations around the globe.
Before the rise of the Internet, the United States was mostly on its own for media.
The goal of this global outcry is to claim public sentiment is strong for gun control.
That anti-gun position has cascaded through the global media.
America is splintered by another policy crisis -- the role of guns in society. CNN host Piers Morgan leads a crusade for gun control, describing gun supporters as "dangerous" and wanting to ban "assault weapons." Morgan, who CBS called "an imported TV personality," believes as many British do, that gun ownership should be restricted.
That anti-gun position has cascaded through the global media. The Guardian UK featured both British and American columnists calling for "the fierce urgency of now" on gun control. Russia Today claimed pro-gun supporters say they can "freely carry military-grade assault weapons." A Sydney Morning Herald columnist wrote he won't even let his boys "play with toy guns."
In news outlets around the world, editorials, news stories and columns demand American gun control. Our political debates have gone global and American conservatives are outnumbered in a way few even realize. Factor in the impact of worldwide social media and the Internet has given our home-grown liberals an incredible advantage and distorted what should be a uniquely American debate.
Before the rise of the Internet, the United States was mostly on its own for media. Fortress America spent far more time influencing the rest of the world than the reverse. That has changed, big time.
Foreign media outlets, such as Russia Today, Qatar's Al-Jazeera and even the BBC, are often state-owned and quite anti-American.
It's not surprising that other nations have their own media and media agenda. But thanks to Twitter, Facebook, tons of cable channels and other sites linking to these stories, such content now flows directly into American homes and politics. Both The Huffington Post on the left and the Drudge Report on the right regularly link to international outlets, even for stories about the United States.
For all the complaints about the leftward tilt in American journalism, it's nothing compared to news operations around the globe. Some of these outlets are blatant propaganda, yet called "news" out of ignorance. They aren't just predictably liberal. Many are further left than their liberal American counterparts -- pro-abortion, anti-gun, pro-big government, pro-tax (especially pro-taxing the U.S.) and anti-U.S. military.
Their reporting bears little resemblance to journalism practiced here.Russia Today is the voice for the Putin regime and its videos highlight any ills they can find in our nation. Their United States is filled with meth labs, murders and anti-government opponents. The Dec. 27 RT America podcast led with 10 minutes of America bashing over our relations with Bahrain. RT "journalists" criticized the U.S. for allegedly backing both the government of Bahrain and protesters, and included claims America "controls the Mideast."
Al-Jazeera, which describes itself as the "Voice of the South," more accurately reflects the views of the Arab street and its Qatar paymasters. It has 70 news bureaus worldwide and its impact is felt strongly in the Middle East. Its American coverage relies heavily on hard-left voices and liberal think tanks. In truth, few conservative experts want anything to do with an organization widely seen as pro-terror, anti-Israel and anti-American. A recent gun control debate on the network just featured three anti-gun voices including one from Mother Jones and another from the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.
Predictably, international outlets offer foreign solutions for American problems, such as the gun bans in Britain and Australia. In turn, those policies then become talking points for U.S. media. A Dec. 21, 2012, NPR story was a prime example. Headlined "Australians Urge U.S. To Look At Their Gun Laws," it pushed the fantasy that there is "no contradiction with being both conservative and in favor of strict gun ownership laws."
All three U.S. broadcast networks repeated foreign talking points on gun control. CBS's Bob Schieffer and ABC's Pierre Thomas pointed to Australia, and NBC showed how Sarah Smith covered a similar shooting in Scotland in 1996, saying politicians had "no choice to give in to public sentiment" for gun control.
The goal of this global outcry is to claim public sentiment is strong for gun control. It may be, but most of that sentiment is from outside the U.S. and didn't get much say in our laws until now.
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To read another article on gun control, click here.
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