AOL Goes To Hell

AOL's purchase of the Huffington Post signals a new era in news bias. As bad as it has been, it is going to get worse.

AOL has pretty much been irrelevant in the internet world for a decade. Once the masters of digital communications, they became a has-been when people figured out that America On Line wasn't actually the internet.

In an effort to revitalize itself, it buys one of the most biased 'news' outlets on the internet - Arianna Huffington's hate filled electronic rag. Huffington herself becomes the single person controlling content on AOL. While she makes a ton of money in the deal, she actually wins even bigger by getting a much larger portal through which she can spit out her vile, far left wing diatribe.

The Huffington Post is a direct competitor to MoveOn.org and Dailykos.com - that should tell you all you need to know about what its views are.

Huffington herself pockets about $18 million in the deal itself, and will pull down an annual salary of $4 million. Will there be any outcry from the left about her excessive profits, her excessive salary? No ... I doubt it. Will she turn around and donate most of it to charity? Not a chance.

AOL employees reportedly gave her a standing ovation when she visited them in NY. However, the rest of the nation isn't so impressed - AOL shares have nose-dived since the announcement.

Let's sit back and wait to hear the cries from the left in Congress about how this violates the 'fairness' of the internet. (You'll be waiting a long time ...)

Most of the reports from the mainstream media about this, if they say anything about it at all, dismiss it as no big deal. Will there be any cries for institution of the Fairness Doctrine to stop this? Turn it around - if Sean Hannity became the content controller for Google (for instance), do you think their reaction would be the same?

There is no such thing as un-biased news. There never has been - really. It's just that in this age of instant communication, everyone who can type can claim to be a new outlet, or electroinc journalist. With that kind of information flow, you can see where the 'trusted' voices are or are not giving you the true story.

Walter Cronkite was one of the most trusted names in news. He was also one of the most liberal leaning mainstream newscasters of his day. If he was around today, he wouldn't be trusted as an un-biased source anymore than Chris Matthews.

In the old days, views that weren't popular with the mainstream pundits didn't get any airtime. Now, with new media and the format introduced by Rush Limbaugh back in theh mid-80s gives us access to all views - and we see the liberal bias.

Update - The AOL stock selloff that was triggered by the Huffington announcement has erased appx. $315 million off the company's worth. Shareholders are taking a huge hit in order to foward this liberal agenda!

Update 3/9/2011 - AOL announced that they will layoff 200 employees in the US, and 700 in India, as a result of its 'merger' with Huffingtonpost. Now, does that sound like good, compasionate left wing company leadership that is concerned about its employees above all else? Why isn't Huffington herself spending some of her immense profits from the merger to keep these folks employed? Isn't that what a good socialist would do? F***ing hypocrites ...