S8 E3: About that Liberal Media

Scene on Radio

Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University

Radio, Audiodoc, Documentary, Stories, Society & Culture

4.9 • 11.3K Ratings

🗓️ 3 June 2026

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For generations, many on the political right have claimed that major news media in the U.S. have a pronounced liberal bias. Is it true? And why does it matter? We take a fresh look.

By John Biewen with co-host Chenjerai Kumanyika. Interviews with Michael Massing, Peter Beinart, and William Youmans.

Story editor: Diane Hodson. Assistant Producer, Arlene Arevalo. Fact-checking by Anna Pujol Mazzini. Music by Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band, Michelle Osis, Lili Haydn, Alex Weston, James Nathan Jones, and Jason Hill. Music consulting by Joe Augustine of Narrative Music.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	We opened the last episode here at the Corner Cafe in Elizabethtown, North Carolina.
0:08.7	But I have to tell you about one more thing that happened that morning.
0:11.8	Can I just ask, sir, whoever wants to do it?
0:14.6	When I asked where they get their national news, the men who spoke up said they watch TV networks
0:20.5	that they see as fair to President
0:22.8	Trump and Republicans. I don't watch a lot of news, but what I watch, I watch Newsmax
0:28.0	or Fox, and I feel like it's not as politically leaning. I don't believe a thing coming out.
0:37.7	I mean, they're so biased and telling untruths, but I'm, I sent you to watch Fox.
0:44.8	I ask, is everyone here on the same page politically?
0:49.1	Ray Cross, the retired dentist, says,
0:51.8	The liberals quit coming.
0:53.1	No.
0:53.9	The man sitting straight across from me
0:56.4	hasn't said much.
0:57.7	His name is Robin Summerlin.
0:59.8	He's balding with a gray beard and mustache.
1:03.1	As he gets up to leave,
1:04.6	I'm a good work.
1:05.3	Summerlin writes something on a small piece of paper
1:07.8	and casually hands it to me.
1:10.2	It's his name and a phone number. I want to know
1:13.5	what's up, but we make eye contact and I decide not to ask. I slip the paper in my pocket.
	...

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