http://www.medialens.org/faq/#objective

Why Concentrate on Liberal Media

Because they delimit the outer limits of acceptable debate from a left or Green perspective: ‘thus far and no further’. Many people on the left and in environmental circles feel that, bar a few problems here and there, The Guardian, The Independent, the BBC, Channel 4 and others provide a more or less level playing field for news and debate. Why else would groups like Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace devote so many resources to gaining media coverage in such outlets?

But when did you ever read a piece even in the ‘liberal’ press on the factors that shape news reporting and analysis? It’s extremely rare. And whenever such an article does appear, it’s almost invariably standard liberal waffle on the media as the ‘fourth estate’: challenging established political power for the benefit of citizens in order to uphold democracy, freedom and human rights.

The press and, in particular, the liberal press, is full of examples of how journalists can manage to ignore – or be unconscious of – the narrow bounds within which ‘facts’ can be reported and analysis presented.  There’s little, if anything, in the mainstream media on the structural constraints of a highly commercialised, conglomerate media industry. With rare exceptions, not a word on the fakery of the ‘war against terror’ and how mainstream journalists have become adjuncts of destructive state power: mouthpieces for government and corporate propaganda. As ever, there are exceptions in the mass media, with gaps here and there (look at what Robert Fisk manages to do in The Independent; John Pilger in The Mirror), but the typical ‘media-savvy’ piece, with its absurd notions of ‘balance’ and ‘fairness’ is simply media white-washing.

The point about our focus on the Guardian, Observer, Independent, the BBC and others (which is far more significant than any focus on individuals) is, therefore, deliberate and not all inspired by any kind of enmity or hatred. After all, one of the big obstacles to a more rational and compassionate society is a media system that suppresses the truth about the destructive consequences of corporate power. This system promotes indifference, greed, selfishness, hatred of enemies, passivity, and so on. At the same time, this system is able to convince people by an intellectual sleight of hand, evolved over decades and even centuries, that it is basically open and free. The key element responsible for convincing people of this mythical press freedom is not the right-wing press – most caring, compassionate people are not fooled by that – but the so-called ‘liberal’ press: the Guardian, the BBC, and so on.

So what we’re trying to show is how the whole corporate media system acts to obscure extraordinary destructiveness, violence and deception. In particular, we wish to expose the role of the ‘liberal’ press in maintaining the illusion that it doesn’t fulfil an establishment propaganda role when, in fact, it does. We’re hoping to help people see through the illusion that we have an awful right-wing press and a pretty good left-leaning liberal press. The bigger picture is that many people imagine, wrongly we believe, that genuinely critical and free-ranging debate is not just tolerated, but encouraged in western society.

Because we’re trying to extend the level of rationality and compassion in society, we’re deliberately challenging the most rational and compassion elements of the press. But we feel absolutely no hatred whatever for the individuals we challenge. Bear in mind that we are just challenging their views; there’s no questioning of attacking them personally, or promoting any desire to remove them from their jobs. We’re also a million miles from the Leninist idea of leading society to some utopian world. Media Lens set against any idea that we would want to lead anything or anyone.

The view of one of us in particular [David Edwards], is of social change that is essentially rooted in Buddhist philosophy: namely, the belief that society improves to the extent that selfishness, greed, hatred and ignorance are reduced in individuals and replaced by compassion, selflessness, generosity, kindness and reason. Our goal is to challenge as many of the illusions that stand in the way of kindness and compassion as possible.