Americans need only to open the daily newspaper or turn on the nightly news in order to see the media’s double standard. Each day we continue to hear that the Occupy Wall Street movement’s hijacked the slogan of “the 99%” which has been forced it into our lexicon and the media’s daily lingo. And almost comically, Time Magazine has decided that “The Protester” is to be “The Person of the Year.”

Mary Katharine Ham, writer and editor at the Daily Caller, Weekly Standard and Townhall, reminds us to travel back in time to appreciate the media double standard as she points out that:

“Obamacare critics flooding town halls to make their dissent known had been called ‘extremist mobs’ by the Democratic National Committee, pawns of the insurance industry by Senator Dick Durbin, ‘un-American’ by Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, ‘brownshirts’ by Representative Brian Baird of Washington, ‘manufactured’ and ‘Astroturf’ by White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, ‘evilmongers’ by Senator Harry Reid, accused of ‘fear-mongering’ by the president, and been deemed ‘political terrorists’ by Representative Baron Hill of Indiana.”

During the Tea Party’s peak, the media seemed to inflame the rhetoric and acted as if the Tea Party movement was about to toss America into revolutionary violence. Despite the denigrating rhetoric and descriptions of the Tea Party movement in the media, there were few arrests or acts of violence. While many commentaries have expressed that both movements were birthed from anger over the nation’s bailouts and perceived unfairness, each group has used vastly different tactics in pushing forward their agendas.

Why have the mainstream media vilified the peaceful Tea Party all the while praising and celebrating Occupy Wall Street despite violence, clashes with police, and general lawlessness. Tea Party organizations and rallies were initially ignored by the press and then dismissed as radical zealots as the Occupy Wall Street crowd was immediately recognized as leading the voice of “the 99%.”

Our national media should be held accountable for their performance, just like any other institution. We need to remind the media of their profound obligation to provide the American people with the facts, rather than tell them what to think.

The Occupy Wall Street and Tea Party movements may both have legitimate grievances with our country, but distorting their images does not move us towards positive solutions. We can work together to increase awareness of bias in the media and encourage Americans to confront it and demand fair reporting.

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About the author

Rep. Lamar Smith
Lamar Smith represents the 21st Congressional District of Texas. Smith is a former Chairman of the Ethics Committee and a former member of the Budget Committee. Smith founded both the Media Fairness Caucus and the Reclaim American Jobs Caucus, which are active Congressional organizations. Visit his official website at www.http://lamarsmith.house.gov/

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11 Comments for Media Double Standard : Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party

StewartIII

NewsBusters: Texas Congressman Takes on Media’s Occupy Wall Street Tea Party Double Standard
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/12/16/texas-congressman-takes-medias-occupy-wall-street-tea-party-double-st

Chris

It is another sign that TIME and its parent company, Time Warner, along TIME’s cousins CNN, HLN, FORTUNE, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, PEOPLE, SOUTHERN LIVING, MAD, PARENTING, and COOKING LIGHT, are losing their way with their readers, both in print and online.

This election cycle could prove the death knell of the mainstream press though they are trying to take News Corp down with them. There are several people who work for both News Corp and Time Warner: Kyle Petty, Larry McReynolds, Nina Easton, Adam Alexander, Ralph Sheheen, Adam Lashinsky, Pam Oliver, Matt Yocum, Dick Stockton, and Bernard Goldberg. One of Sun Tzu’s principles in THE ART of WAR is the use of double agents. Whose side of the people mentioned are they on? America and its freedom or the Marixst, facist, socialist, communist side of serfdom, destruction, death, and enslavement?

Glenn Beck is right in the sense that people will have to choose sides in the battle. Which one are they on?

An American

It is quite obvious that this Obama is trying to surpress any conservative views so that he can stay in power. What a crock of a president we have.

Ruben Safir

Lamar Smith is a NUTCASE who demoans the power of the Liberal media while taking huge sums of money from them in exchange for his support of their liberal agenda SOPA act which will strangle the internet. San Antonio deserves a better Congressman then this CROOK.

Jacobite

Leftists’ double-standards are just another form of lying. If you don’t like it, shut them up. There is no reason to palaver with liars, just as there’s no point in ‘dealing’ with cheats and welshers. Any Leftist left alive is gonna start lying/cheating/killing within seconds. Don’t do it.

wsk

Are you suprised?