Firing Back: Maybe the Media is Changing After All

Chances are you won’t actually see more “pro gun” articles from the mainstream media, but the fact is that you might just see less from the MSM and more from gun magazines. According to Daily Finance, gun magazines are on the rise, while the rest of the mainstream media continues to falter.

As a full-time freelance writer, this reporter has seen the death of the MSM from the inside. Editors are laid off, staff reporters are tasked with more assignments as freelance budgets are cut. And yet the mainstream media has missed the reason why. The big corporate publishers blame the Internet and citizen journalism, and to a great extent that is part of it. Today it is easy to launch a blog and report on the news – or it is easy to report on what a poor job the mainstream media to do as well.

But how about the unwavering media bias from the MSM? How about the fact that the media, even in stories that shouldn’t have an agenda, continue to offer a tone that shows a particular bias? This remains notable especially with the issue of guns, but extends way beyond. Consider the tone from the article from Daily Finance, which even includes the obnoxious title “It’s a Tea Party at the Newsstand as Conservative and Gun Magazines Grow“:

“The citizens of Red State America are hopping mad, and they’re doing something about it: buying magazines. Among the fastest-growing publications in the first half of 2010 were a slew of titles for gun lovers, hunters, conservatives and NASCAR fans, according to figures just released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.”

Is this tone necessary? Are so-called “Red State American” really hopping mad? And is this limited to just the Red States? But the truth is that gun magazines are on the rise, as noted in the story:

“America’s 1st Freedom, a publication of the National Rifle Association, which was up 22.6% to 606,669. American Rifleman, American Hunterand North American Hunter all also made the list of the 25 fastest-growing titles.”

Now what is interesting is that gun magazines are on the rise. For the past 27 years gun sales are on the rise, and yet the MSM continues to question the “power” of the NRA. Shouldn’t all these facts together prove to the mainstream media, to liberal politicians and to the anti-gun zealots that it isn’t just a fringe of so-called “Red State Americans” that want guns. It is the majority. But when it comes to liberals and the media, does the majority really matter? After all, they think they know best.

The irony is that unlike a lot of my brethren in the press, I’m not biased against guns. So if I can’t write about something else, then I guess I can find work at the gun magazines!