In his first post-2024 election appearance on Fox News Channel’s Life, Liberty & Levin on Sunday, Media Research Center Founder and President Brent Bozell called out how the liberal media’s “attacks on Donald Trump backfired in 2024” and how the astute American people saw through their propaganda.
Host Mark Levin kicked off the insightful conversation by pointing out how the liberal media “have a complete disconnect with the American people, and my theory is this, they don't care.”
“The corporations that own these platforms, they don't care. It's of no consequence to them, and they are a poison to the body politic, as they get more cancerous with their propaganda,” he added.
Bozell remarked that he’d “never seen anything like this and I've been involved in politics for 45 years” and noted: “We've never seen a situation where the American news media had a lesser appreciation for the world view of the American people.”
Citing a recent MRC study proving the imbalance of TV coverage of the Trump and Harris campaigns, Bozell coupled it with recent Gallup and YouGov polls about popularity and trust to show that the American people rejected what the liberal media was trying to sell them [Click “expand”]:
With Donald Trump, it was 85 percent negative. Now, this is after someone shot him in the head and some other person almost killed him, and still they did nothing but attack him for two years. Meanwhile, with Kamala Harris, it was 76 percent positive coverage she got. So, day and night that they've got it. Okay, so what happened?
Gallup took a poll at the start of this campaign. They found Trump's positive was at 41 percent, his negative was at 55 percent, that's negative 14. When it was all said and done with, his positive was 44 percent, his negative was 54 percent, that's a negative 10. Donald Trump went up in the polls, not down.
And then there's more interesting data. Gallup then took another poll of the American news media themselves to ask if they were trusted. The trust factor, get this, Mark, the trust factor in the news media, after 85 percent negative attacks on Donald Trump, 31 percent trust factor, the lowest in recorded history.
On top of that, another poll from YouGov, an organization called YouGov, that goes into a deep, deep analysis where they find out exactly what you're thinking, found only seven percent of the American people trust the news media today.
“The attacks on Donald Trump backfired in 2024,” he expertly deduced.
“The Democrat Party and the media are so totally disconnected from the public. You see, they don't want to know what the public thinks. They want to impose their views on the public,” Levin commented.
Levin’s concern then moved to how, “as long as these mega oligopolies own these platforms, do they really care?” “So, not a single outrageous person like Joy Reid, they're never fired. They're not held to account,” he argued.
“Well, I think the news media are the only industry in the United States today where management is not allowed to control its employees,” Bozell said.
He put the onus on the management for letting the inmates run the asylum:
The management of Comcast, the management of all of these companies, they know what I just said. They know the dishonesty. They know everything that is going on with the national news media, but they don't dare get involved in the newsroom because of the backlash.
Look what happened with Jeff Bezos and The Washington Post. Even a left winger like Jeff Bezos is seeing the catastrophe in American journalism today. When he just suggested, we need to bring some conservatives just to bring balance to this; oh my God. It was like the day -- no, nothing is going to change. These people hate conservatives.
Following a commercial break, Bozell called out the liberal media for trying to keep the American people ignorant of Vice President Kamala Harris’s far-left policy positions [Click “expand”]:
It's stunning, isn't it that they are lecturing the American people about how Donald Trump is the end of democracy. How can you have a functioning democracy when you have an illiterate American people? That's the thing that scares me.
Even though Donald Trump won this election, the fact of the matter is that Kamala Harris' own supporters had no idea where she stood. They had no idea that on abortion, that she supports all abortion at all times for anybody at any age, for any reason, paid for by the American people. The most radical view in the world.
They had no idea she's come out in favor of opening the borders, no criminal charges for crossing the borders. They have no idea that in 2019, she went forward to the ACLU and saying, if elected, she would legalize all drugs. That's heroin, that's fentanyl, that's LS, you name it. She would legalize.
“Her Marxism was there. They didn't cover it,” he said. “So, that's still a very, very scary thought to me that they have the ability not just to try to destroy somebody, but to never let you know who it was you really elected.”
Bozell called for conservative “to be a lot more creative in their thinking, ambitious in their thinking, and really put their money where their mouth is” when it comes to ways to get around the filter of the liberal media.
“So, what do you do going forward? I think you have to develop more [platforms for conservative speech],” he said. “I think it's very interesting what he's doing with Truth Social, what the Trump Organization is doing. They see it. They see not just the need, but the opportunity. There is a market opportunity for conservatives to go there.”
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
Fox News Channel’s Life, Liberty, Levin
November 10, 2024
8:41:39 p.m. EasternMARK LEVIN: LEVIN: Welcome back, America.
We're here with my buddy, Brent Bozell, the head muckety-muck of Media Research Center and NewsBusters, they do such a fantastic job of policing the media, which is why we wanted you here.
Brent Bozell, just another lousy cycle of phony media with their phony coverage. Democratic Party, left-wing media insulated from the American people, based primarily on the East Coast, with a few places in LA and Chicago.
They have a complete disconnect with the American people, and my theory is this, they don't care. The corporations that own these platforms, they don't care. It's of no consequence to them, and they are a poison to the body politic, as they get more cancerous with their propaganda.
Your take on what just took place in this election with the media.
BRENT BOZELL: I've got to tell you, Mark, that I've never seen anything like this and I've been involved in politics for 45 years. The Media Research Center has been around for 37 years. I've never seen anything like this.
We've never seen a situation where the American news media had a lesser appreciation for the world view of the American people. But by contrast, we've never seen a situation where the American people had a greater appreciation for the left-wing world view of the American media.
I think you can argue that the press played a pivotal and I think, the ultimate role in the election of Joe Biden in 2020 by simply covering up all the scandals around him. They tried it again in 2024. They went with the same level of hostility – actually even more hostile than ever, and while also covering up Kamala and it backfired, and I'll show you how it happened.
With Donald Trump, it was 85 percent negative. Now, this is after someone shot him in the head and some other person almost killed him, and still they did nothing but attack him for two years. Meanwhile, with Kamala Harris, it was 76 percent positive coverage she got. So, day and night that they've got it. Okay, so what happened?
Gallup took a poll at the start of this campaign. They found Trump's positive was at 41 percent, his negative was at 55 percent, that's negative 14. When it was all said and done with, his positive was 44 percent, his negative was 54 percent, that's a negative 10. Donald Trump went up in the polls, not down.
And then there's more interesting data. Gallup then took another poll of the American news media themselves to ask if they were trusted. The trust factor, get this, Mark, the trust factor in the news media, after 85 percent negative attacks on Donald Trump, 31 percent trust factor, the lowest in recorded history.
On top of that, another poll from YouGov, an organization called YouGov, that goes into a deep, deep analysis where they find out exactly what you're thinking, found only seven percent of the American people trust the news media today.
The attacks on Donald Trump backfired in 2024.
LEVIN: And you're right, you and I have been around a while watching these things. The level, I mean, it is real hate speech, Hitler and all the rest of it, and then attacking half the country.
The Democrat Party and the media are so totally disconnected from the public. You see, they don't want to know what the public thinks. They want to impose their views on the public. That's really the difference here.
But Brent Bozell, as long as these mega oligopolies own these platforms, do they really care? I mean, CNN means nothing to this massive company; Paramount, CBS means nothing to them. I mean, Comcast, okay, MSNBC, it's like, you know, it's like a gnat on my neck, and all of these other things.
So, not a single outrageous person like Joy Reid, they're never fired. They're not held to account. I mean, at least Bezos said, ‘hey, look, my newspaper, we're going to have a little bit more balance. If you people don't like it, get out.’ And they resigned, like a normal business. What do you make of this, this disconnect?
BOZELL: Well, I think the news media are the only industry in the United States today where management is not allowed to control its employees. The management of Comcast, the management of all of these companies, they know what I just said. They know the dishonesty.
They know everything that is going on with the national news media, but they don't dare get involved in the newsroom because of the backlash.
Look what happened with Jeff Bezos and The Washington Post. Even a left winger like Jeff Bezos is seeing the catastrophe in American journalism today. When he just suggested, we need to bring some conservatives just to bring balance to this; oh my God. It was like the day -- no, nothing is going to change. These people hate conservatives.
They believe, just like she believed, they believe that the America -- that conservatives are racist, misogynist and want to end democracy. When they attack Donald Trump, Mark Levin, they're attacking you, they’re attacking me, they're attacking every conservative in America. That's what they believe.
LEVIN: When we come back Brent Bozell, so what does a nation do when we have a media that's not a free media, that is a propaganda operation for the hard core left in one party, in a Republic, the Republic clearly will survive, but how does this play out over time?
We'll be right back.
(…)
8:51:00 p.m. Eastern
LEVIN: Welcome back, America.
I'm here with Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center.
Brent Bozell, so what happens to a Republic when the so-called ‘free press’ isn't free, it's a propaganda operation that undermines the society.
BOZELL: It's stunning, isn't it that they are lecturing the American people about how Donald Trump is the end of democracy. How can you have a functioning democracy when you have an illiterate American people? That's the thing that scares me.
Even though Donald Trump won this election, the fact of the matter is that Kamala Harris' own supporters had no idea where she stood. They had no idea that on abortion, that she supports all abortion at all times for anybody at any age, for any reason, paid for by the American people. The most radical view in the world.
They had no idea she's come out in favor of opening the borders, no criminal charges for crossing the borders. They have no idea that in 2019, she went forward to the ACLU and saying, if elected, she would legalize all drugs. That's heroin, that's fentanyl, that's LS, you name it. She would legalize.
They have no idea that she's a green sponsor -- co-sponsor, which is the most radical takeover of the American economy, of the world economy in the history of man.
On and on, her Marxism was there. They didn't cover it. So, that's still a very, very scary thought to me that they have the ability not just to try to destroy somebody, but to never let you know who it was you really elected.
LEVIN: So what happens now? They're not going to correct themselves. They don't really care. Nobody is going to get fired or held to account. If they don't make a nickel or the ratings are down, companies that own them don't care. They're not going to do anything about it.
So what is it? We have competition, we have a free country, so we have more platforms that are created; new technologies. I mean, this sort of thing is really what's going to save us in terms of a true free press, right?
BOZELL: Yes, yes, I think one of the lessons from 2024: Donald Trump just bypassed the conventional news media. He went to what to social media, which is what he did in 2016, what Obama did in 2012 and 2008, but he did it in a more sophisticated way.
You know, he went to these places -- Joe Rogan has an audience, what -- three, four times the size of NBC on a regular basis. He went to these platforms where they truly connect with the American people.
So, what do you do going forward? I think you have to develop more of them. I think it's very interesting what he's doing with Truth Social, what the Trump Organization is doing. They see it. They see not just the need, but the opportunity. There is a market opportunity for conservatives to go there.
Conservatives have to be a lot more creative in their thinking, ambitious in their thinking, and really put their money where their mouth is. If they develop these new platforms, ultimately, the hell with NBC News.
LEVIN: I might add, one of the areas that's getting absolutely no attention, which is very frustrating to me, is conservative talk radio. It's as strong, it's as vibrant as it's ever been. The legacy of Rush, many of us are standing on his shoulders, but I was looking at a Pew Research study. It said that it's as big as ever before, that upwards of 30 percent of the American people get their information from talk radio.
Look, my show runs simulcast on podcast, on satellite, on – you know, airport radar systems, on sonograms on everything we can do, but conservative talk radio is why Soros is trying to buy up all these stations, because it's as strong as ever before, and Donald Trump used it to his advantage.
It's under the radar, he used it. There's still -- yes, go ahead.
BOZELL: Well, I think conservative, I mean talk radio is the most market driven media that exists today. You either have a market or you don't. And if you don't have a market, you don't get advertisers, you go out of business. It's as simple as that.
What you've had is historically, one Democrat after another, one liberal after another, has been presented as a talk show host. Every single one of them has cratered.
The only way you can do that is when the American people have their money taken from them, and you have to go with NPR, but there's no market demand for the left. There's an absolute market demand for the right, because of people like you, because people want information that they know they're not getting from CBS News, but they're getting -- there's more news coming from commentary radio than there is from the news media when they purport to be reporting news.
LEVIN: Brent Bozell, thanks for everything you do, everything you're going to do.
God bless you, my friend. Be well.
BOZELL: Thank you, Mark. Thank you.
