Mike Rosen asserted in his May 4 Rocky Mountain News column that anchorwoman Katie Couric delivers a “liberal spin on the CBS Evening News,” that "All Things Considered on NPR is a liberal love-in," and that The New York Times and The Washington Post are “reliably liberal.” Further, on the May 4 broadcast of his Newsradio 850 KOA show, Rosen charged that MSNBC host Chris Matthews is “a Republican-hater.” However, as Colorado Media Matters and Media Matters for America have documented, the news outlets and journalists Rosen criticized as too “liberal” frequently have displayed a conservative slant.

Rosen's News column was about a congressional push to “bring back the [Federal Communications Commission's] Fairness Doctrine in 2007” after former President Ronald Regan put it “out of its misery” in 1987. According to Rosen, the proposal to revive the Fairness Doctrine comes because "[l]iberal politicians hate the influence of conservative talk-show hosts on radio":

So why is there a move by liberal Democrats in Congress -- including Bernie Sanders, the self-declared socialist Senator from Vermont, and Dennis Kucinich, the Ohio representative from the left of Bernie Sanders -- to bring back the Fairness Doctrine in 2007? It's all Rush Limbaugh's fault.

Liberal politicians hate the influence of conservative talk-show hosts on radio. They yearn for the good old days of Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather, when liberal spin on the news was broadcast exclusively by liberal anchors and reporters who pretended to be objective. At least when I broadcast my conservative views, there's no pretense. I advertise it as opinion and commentary; ditto for Rush.

Later in his column Rosen wondered, "[W]hat about the local and network news shows? Who would monitor them for content and balance? Presumably, a panel of FCC judges, perfectly impartial philosopher kings, above politics -- although they'd be nominated and confirmed by politicians -- who could be trusted to have the last word on what constitutes fairness." Rosen then asked:

Would Katie Couric's liberal spin on the CBS Evening News pass muster? How about the Today show or 60 Minutes? Or Bill Moyers' left-wing propaganda specials on PBS? All Things Considered on NPR is a liberal love-in. Would all these make the grade while Brit Hume is censored on the Fox News Channel? Can you see how arbitrary and unworkable this is?

Paranoid left-wingers like to posture about the conservative bias of the “corporate media.” That, of course, is laughable. The New York Times and The Washington Post are corporations, as is Time magazine and Newsweek, all reliably liberal. ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, PBS and NPR are all corporate entities that, likewise, spin the news in a liberal direction.

Similarly, during the May 4 broadcast of his radio show, Rosen complained that Republican presidential candidates should not have accepted the guidelines for their first primary debate, in part because Matthews is “a Republican-hater.” As with his other assertions, Rosen offered no factual evidence for his claim.

From the May 4 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Mike Rosen Show:

ROSEN: And then, why do Republicans -- and maybe somebody's got a good answer for me on this -- why do Republicans agree to this kind of a setting? First of all, it's aired on MSNBC, a third-rate cable channel, or satellite channel, that hardly anybody watches. MSNBC's ratings are extremely low, much lower than Fox's. You've got Chris Matthews on NBC, who's a Republican-hater, and Chris Matthews is one of the moderators. Then they're taking questions that were provided by “civilians.”

Despite Rosen's suggestion that media personalities and outlets are guilty of “liberal spin” or “left-wing propaganda,” Colorado Media Matters and Media Matters have documented that Couric, NPR, and Matthews, as well as several major newspapers and television networks, at times have displayed a conservative slant.

Katie Couric and CBS

Contrary to Rosen's claim that Couric has a “liberal spin on CBS Evening News,” Media Matters has documented many examples of conservative misinformation issued by Couric and has identified numerous instances in which the network has skewed its news broadcasts to the right of center. For example, CBS failed to book any liberal or progressive voices for the first 10 editions of its “Free Speech” segment on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. Instead, the segment featured conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (now a Republican presidential candidate), and former Bush aide and speechwriter Michael Gerson.

NPR

As Media Matters noted, responding in a December 14, 2005, column to listener comments on the issue, National Public Radio (NPR) ombudsman Jeffrey A. Dvorkin presented a list of the think tanks from which NPR draws experts for comments and tallied the number of times experts from each think tank were interviewed in NPR stories. The list demonstrates that NPR does in fact “lean on” conservative think tanks disproportionately. Further, the group Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), using somewhat different criteria, has documented a similar preference for conservative think tanks in the American media more broadly over a number of years. FAIR's latest study shows “that 40 percent of [think tank] citations in 2005 were to conservative or center-right groups, 47 percent were to centrist groups and only 13 percent were to center-left or progressive groups.”

Chris Matthews

Contrary to Rosen's claim that Matthews is “a Republican-hater,” Media Matters has noted numerous times when Matthews' statements have taken a conservative slant. While Matthews did work for former President Jimmy Carter and former House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O'Neill Jr. (D-MA), his statements on major political issues belie the claim that he consistently sides with the Democrats.

During MSNBC's 2004 presidential debate coverage, its presidential inauguration coverage, and both before and after Bush's 2005 State of the Union address, Matthews has hosted numerous MSNBC panels that contained far more conservative commentators than progressives. While moderating discussion panels on Hardball, Matthews has emphasized repeatedly the liberal allegiances of progressive guests, while failing to note that other guests on the same panel were Republican. Matthews also frequently has touted Giuliani, praising him on issues such as Giuliani's purported performance in the wake of the 9-11 attacks and the elimination of the urine smell in New York City subways.

Recently, Matthews ignored several polls indicating a plurality of respondents believe U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should resign over the controversial firing of eight U.S. attorneys and baselessly asserted that "[t]wo-thirds of the American people say -- I mean, they don't like it, but they don't think he's [Gonzales] telling the truth -- but they say leave him alone." Additionally, on the February 27 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, Matthews did not challenge Rick Davis, U.S. Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) presidential campaign CEO, when he falsely claimed that “John McCain doesn't attack other candidates” and “you never see him talking about people in a partisan fashion.” In reality, McCain repeatedly has attacked “people in a partisan fashion” -- and has done so on Hardball.

The New York Times and The Washington Post

Rosen's claim that the New York Times and the Washington Post are “reliably liberal” was contradicted, as Media Matters noted, on the April 25 edition of the PBS' Bill Moyers Journal. Host Bill Moyers -- whom Rosen also accused of producing “left-wing propaganda specials” -- presented a documentary special, Buying the War, that examined how the press “largely surrendered its independence and skepticism to join with our government in marching to war” in Iraq. The film extensively reported on the role the Times and Post played in contributing to the “drumbeat” of war. Media Matters noted Moyers' documentation of Post editorials that pushed for invading Iraq; the Post advocated at least 27 times that the United States do so. Moyers also noted the Times' role in credulously reporting administration claims about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program, particularly focusing on former Times reporter Judith Miller. Media Matters has noted a number of instances in which the Times and Post have advanced conservative misinformation through their coverage.

ABC, NBC, and other networks

Contrary to Rosen's claim that networks such as ABC and NBC “spin the news in a liberal direction,” Media Matters has logged numerous instances in which ABC, NBC, CNN, and MSNBC have favored conservative viewpoints or interests. On November 6, 2006, evening news broadcasts, for example, ABC, NBC, and CBS all reported that, based on two polls, the midterm election was “tightening.” Those reports, however, ignored abundant contemporaneous polling that showed no shift toward Republicans, as noted by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.