Unlike what Rush Limbaugh claims, being white, right-wing conservative, and male (like the screaming guy on this video) will still get you ahead of the line in terms of media coverage; in fact you might be cheered on.

Just like they do every year when they gorge on 24/7 coverage of missing white blonde women, the corporate media is once again unabashedly choosing to give disproportionate coverage to the “tea party movement”, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), and the potential effect that the conservative and/or regressive white voters might have in the upcoming midterm elections of 2010. 

The Latino vote could very well be key to the midterm elections but we hardly hear anything about that in the daily narrative being repeated over and over in the cable news circuit.  All we hear is take after take of what the mythical “tea party” voter thinks. 

Every year, the media loves to show footage and analysis of the CPAC gathering, while almost completly ignoring the progressive America’s Future Now conference.

Progressive religious groups on the left also get the shaft, as any prouncement coming from the religious right gets broadcasted as news, sometimes going unchallenged.

So why is this? Is there an institutional bias on the part of the corporate media to favor conservatives?  The state of progressive radio hosts that remained after Air America died may be a healthy one but let’s face it: it’s not a sustainable model in terms of the building a progressive media infrastructure.  We need to foster new successful media personalities and create opportunities for the format to grow.  We need a centralized media outlet that, outside of Rachel Maddow, Ed Schultz, and Keith Olbermann on MSNBC, will represent and speak for American progressives that are currently being grossly ignored by the mainstream cable news media.