This Far Left And No Further

For ‘Liberal’ NYT, Taxing the Rich Is a Fringe Idea
By Jim Naureckas

The New York Times is one of the most effective tools for limiting discussion in the U.S. political system. Falsely perceived as a left-leaning outlet, it has the power to make the most reasonable proposals seem ultra-radical by placing them beyond the pale.

[…] In other words, proposals like progressive taxation should be avoided because people might call you a liberal.  This from the daily news outlet that was named by journalists most often when asked to name one that was “especially liberal.”

For the record, taxing the rich is not an idea that has “a chance of winning broad public support”–it already has broad public support.

This is a very important insight. 

Extremely conservative opinions get voiced in the mainstream such as with Fox News, but what is perceived as extremely liberal doesn’t.  The particularly significant aspect is the perception of what is liberal or conservative, what is mainstream or radical.  Some pundits who act like populists may not actually espouse populist opinions.  And some opinions that get denied or ignored in mainstream media might actually be popular opinion. 

Because of this bias, smaller protests on the right such as the Tea Party get positive media attention and lots of it, but larger protests on the left such as the anti-war movement get negative media attention or else little attention at all.