Media Relies on Tony Perkins for 'Conservative' Viewpoint

Filed By Adam Polaski at Bilerico Project

It probably comes as no surprise, but the mainstream media is continuing to treat ultra conservatives as representatives for conservative perspectives, an important element of the trend of right-washing in mainstream television news.
Tony Perkins from the Family Research Council, the organization that's been deemed a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, has been popping up all over network news - from Fox News to CNN to MSNBC - to promulgate his anti-gay views, reinforce the notion that to be conservative you must be anti-gay, and use the LGBT community as a scapegoat for the country's economic issues.
Media Matters has released a new alert about Perkins' presence on television.
According to the organization, Perkins' appearances on each network are incredibly similar, with several key patterns:

• The host fails to acknowledge Perkins as the leader of an anti-gay hate group Perkins is allowed to speak generally about what social conservatives want from a candidate
• Perkins attempts to link same-sex marriage to the bad economy
• The host asks Perkins which candidate his group will endorse
• Perkins pitches his Values Voter Summit (three times in less than ten minutes during a recent Hannity segment)
• The segment ends without a mention of Perkin's history of anti-gay extremism or ties to white supremacists

The mainstream news media may be a failure, but to deny its power and reach would be foolish. Every time Tony Perkins appears on network TV, he - not to mention the Family Research Council - is legitimatized as a rational, reasonable person who simply has his own opinion instead of being condemned as a hate group.