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What liberal mainstream media?

MSNBC's Richard Wolffe raised two important points about media bias during a debate with conservative radio host Steve Malzberg on Wednesday: One, Fox News is the No. 1 cable news channel in the country; two, The Wall Street Journal, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, is the No. 1-selling newspaper in the country.

To this, I would add the Rush Limbaugh is the No. 1 most listened to talk radio host in the country and Drudge Report, the conservative online news aggregator, is the No. 1 traffic driver for political news sites.

So, let's cycle back through that: The dominant players across all news platforms are Fox News (by viewers), The Wall Street Journal (by circulation); Rush Limbaugh (by listeners); and Drudge Report (by traffic).

So, when conservatives slam the "liberal mainstream media" -- what the hell are they talking about?

I've put this question to conservative media figures over recent months, and the answer is usually the same: Yes, conservative outlets hold the top spots, but they're competing with an entire liberal media infrastructure that includes ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, the liberal blogosphere, and so on and so forth.

"ABC, CBS and NBC still have about 25 million combined viewers. Fox's best show has about 3 million," Ari Fleischer, the former White House press secretary for President George W. Bush, told POLITICO on Wednesday. "The WSJ editorial page is conservative, but I would not describe its news pages that way. The combined circulation of USAToday, WP, NYT and a myriad of other papers across the country drives news coverage too. And given the liberal leanings of most reporters in most places, news coverage is still liberal."

But how big is the "liberal" infrastructure, really? Fox News often outperforms CNN and MSNBC combined. The broadcast networks air actual news programming for roughly one hour a day, cumulatively, and again for an hour on Sunday mornings. No one on talk radio comes close to Limbaugh or to Sean Hannity, who occupies the number-two spot. The Huffington Post doesn't hold a candle to the Drudge Report in terms of influence or outbound traffic*. But, ok, perhaps there is a point to be made on the cumulative influence of the Times, the Post and other papers when compared to the Journal.

Overall, however, we're a long way from the days when Roger Ailes, the founder of Fox News, could claim there was no voice for conservatives in the mainstream media. As our media has become more partisan and more fractured, conservative outlets have gained just as much influence -- if not more -- than they're liberal and moderate counterparts.

Rick Wilson, the Republican media strategist, said "the usual gospel" among conservatives was to point out that Fox News was offset by the other broadcast and cable networks and that only the Journal's editorial page was conservative, much as Fleischer had done. He also added that while "Drudge is the driver of traffic," he is "so hated by the media because he runs stories that, no matter how much they fight it, drive coverage and discussion."

However, Wilson added, "I think what's really under the conservative complaint on those three points is a reaction to the partisan pushback against them ('Faux News', 'Oh, the WSJ is owned by the financial industry' and 'Drudge is a Threat To The Very Fabric of Democracy.')"

Fine. But it's not like the so-called "lamestream media" doesn't have to deal with partisan pushback as well. Case in point.

*Note: HuffPo's Sam Stein took issue with my reference to "traffic" when comparing his site to the Drudge Report. As I stated in my second paragraph, I was referring to outbound traffic -- and, more specifically, the traffic Drudge drives to political news sites.