Media watchdog group launches petition, demands liberal media 'Tell the Truth'

The Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog organization led by Brent Bozell, has launched a petition drive demanding mainstream media outlets tell the truth and "rededicate themselves to unbiased reporting".

The website states, "In the coming months, we can expect continued efforts by the liberal media to distort the truth about the economy, about conservatives, and about the Obama agenda all in an effort to help keep the march toward European-style socialism on track.

Conservatives have long argued that so-called mainstream media organizations present news with a liberal bias.  In the mid 1980's Marlin Maddoux wrote extensively about media bias in his book, Free Speech or Propaganda, How the Media Distorts the Truth.  Since that time, media reporting has only gotten worse.

In the recent election, radio talk show host Sean Hannity declared that 2008 was the year journalism died.  In covering the 2008 Presidential election, media organizations bent over backwards to promote Barack Obama, while portraying Sarah Palin in the most egregious manner possible.  In the current election cycle, media outlets have openly bashed the Tea Party.

The website Newsbusters.org documents multiple examples of media bias on a daily basis.  Sometimes the bias shows in lopsided panel discussions; sometimes it shows in the preferential treatment given to liberals while openly scorning or ridiculing conservatives.

"Tell the Truth! is the Media Research Centers response to this all-out assault on our freedom and our way of life. It is our declaration of war on the outrageous levels of liberal bias in the media today", states the website.