To the Editor:

Tyler Wayne Roach is right that not only is the so-called “liberal press” a complete myth, but that the press is actually instrumental in assisting conservatives in achieving their goals.

Many conservatives use the word “liberal” as a substitute for the f-word, throwing it at anything that makes them grumpy: Liberal Democrats, Liberal Judges, Liberal Hollywood and, of course, Liberal Press.

The myth of media liberalism is touted by right-wing critics in an effort to censor all but their own, hateful speech.

It’s ironic that Rush Limbaugh has television shows on broadcast and cable, and a radio show syndicated by over 600 stations, on which to complain about how the media are dominated by liberals.

Reed Irvine and his associates in the right-wing media organization Accuracy In Media appear in over 100 newspapers and 200 radio stations.

The fundamentalist “religious” media — featuring homophobic, sexist, reactionary TV evangelists like Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and James Dobson — is a $2 billion a year industry, controlling about 10 percent of all radio outlets and 14 percent of the nation’s television stations.

Conservative columnist Cal Thomas, who, as Roach says, constantly complains about the “liberal media,” is actually one of the most widely syndicated columnists in America.

Just in the past few months I’ve heard Pat Buchanan, Cal Thomas, Paul Harvey, John McLaughlin, Newt Gingrich, Mona Charon, Jerry Falwell, William F. Buckley, Gordon Liddy, Rush Limbaugh, Phyllis Schlafly, Don Feder, Reed Irvine, John Sununu, George Will, Charlton Heston, Jack Cashill, Donald Wildmon, Bob Dole, Phil Gramm and James J. Kilpatrick say that liberals manipulate or dominate the media. What paranoia!

Or is it? This myth is very handy for putting the media always on the defensive, keeping it leaning to the right, so that liberal opinion is always striving for credibility within a conservative-defined framework. It keeps the debate forever a contest between right and center, while real liberalism remains shut out.

Alan L. Light

Iowa City, Iowa