The biases the media has are much bigger than conservative or liberal. They’re about getting ratings, about making money, about doing stories that are easy to cover.

Meaning of the quote

The media doesn't really care about being conservative or liberal. They care more about getting people to watch their shows and making money. They often choose stories that are easy to report on, even if they don't tell the whole story.

About Al Franken

Al Franken is an American politician and comedian who served as a U.S. Senator from Minnesota from 2009 to 2018. He first gained fame as a writer and performer on Saturday Night Live, and later became a liberal political activist, hosting his own radio show. Franken resigned from the Senate in 2018 following allegations of sexual misconduct.

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More quotes from Al Franken

But in the right-wing media, they do have a right-wing bias. And they also have an agenda. So their agenda is: we’re an adjunct of the Republican Party, and we’re going push that agenda every day, and, as you say, brand these stories that help further the right-wing cause.

Al Franken

American comedian and former U.S. Senator (born 1951)

The thing that interests me least about the radio business is the radio business. But I’ve had to learn a little bit about it. It’s not rocket science: You get ratings, that’s good.

Al Franken

American comedian and former U.S. Senator (born 1951)

When the president during the campaign said he was against nation building, I didn’t realize he meant our nation.

Al Franken

American comedian and former U.S. Senator (born 1951)

When you encounter seemingly good advice that contradicts other seemingly good advice, ignore them both.

Al Franken

American comedian and former U.S. Senator (born 1951)

Well, I think that there’s a value to comedy in and of itself.

Al Franken

American comedian and former U.S. Senator (born 1951)

And I think that being able to make people laugh and write a book that’s funny makes the information go down a lot easier and it makes it a lot more fun to read, easier to understand, and often stronger. So there’s all kinds of advantages to it.

Al Franken

American comedian and former U.S. Senator (born 1951)

I do personal attacks only on people who specialize in personal attacks.

Al Franken

American comedian and former U.S. Senator (born 1951)

Well, a lot of politics is communicating with people, and obviously comedy has something to do with that. I’ve been a producer and led people. Also, being a comedian, you’re under pressure.

Al Franken

American comedian and former U.S. Senator (born 1951)

I once asked the most fabulous couple I know, Madonna and Guy Ritchie, how they kept things fresh despite having been married for almost seven months. ‘It’s a job, Al,’ Guy told me. ‘We work at it every day.’

Al Franken

American comedian and former U.S. Senator (born 1951)

Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way. Unless it’s a fatal mistake, which, at least, others can learn from.

Al Franken

American comedian and former U.S. Senator (born 1951)

It’s easier to put on slippers than to carpet the whole world.

Al Franken

American comedian and former U.S. Senator (born 1951)

We need to be pro-science; we have to go back to science.

Al Franken

American comedian and former U.S. Senator (born 1951)

It’s the Power of the Almighty, the Splendor of Nature, and then you.

Al Franken

American comedian and former U.S. Senator (born 1951)

The biases the media has are much bigger than conservative or liberal. They’re about getting ratings, about making money, about doing stories that are easy to cover.

Al Franken

American comedian and former U.S. Senator (born 1951)

The point is that there is tremendous hypocrisy among the Christian right. And I think that Christian voters should start looking at global warming and extreme poverty as a religious issue that speaks to the culture of life.

Al Franken

American comedian and former U.S. Senator (born 1951)

To make the argument that the media has a left- or right-wing, or a liberal or a conservative bias, is like asking if the problem with Al-Qaeda is do they use too much oil in their hummus.

Al Franken

American comedian and former U.S. Senator (born 1951)

Yeah, we shot ourselves in the foot right out of the gate. The guy who ran it at first misled pretty much everybody about how much capital we had. He said we had enough to go three years without making money, and we had enough to go three weeks.

Al Franken

American comedian and former U.S. Senator (born 1951)

The right wing has had a radio apparatus for years and years, so they’ve had minor leagues – they’ve had local rightwing guys who’ve become national rightwing guys, and who build slowly, and that’s how it goes. We haven’t had that. It isn’t like we have a farm team.

Al Franken

American comedian and former U.S. Senator (born 1951)

The next thing I am doing is moving back home to Minnesota and getting involved in politics. I’m looking at a run for Senate in 2008, but in the meantime I am focused on knitting together the progressive network in the upper Midwest.

Al Franken

American comedian and former U.S. Senator (born 1951)

I also focus on Bush and his administration – who do a lot of lying – and how a right-wing media has allowed them to get away with a lot of stuff that, in a different media environment, they probably wouldn’t be able to get away with.

Al Franken

American comedian and former U.S. Senator (born 1951)

If you hear, day after day, liberals are rooting against armed forces, that is eventually going to have an effect on soldiers and troops who are actually going to believe that and it’s wrong. It’s just wrong.

Al Franken

American comedian and former U.S. Senator (born 1951)

Yeah, but you need an experienced radio veteran who is a liberal advocate. And there just hadn’t been any radio that did that. And so they weren’t trained – they had developed all these bad habits of being objective and balanced and stuff like that.

Al Franken

American comedian and former U.S. Senator (born 1951)