By now, you’ve probably heard of Michael Sam, the openly gay college football player who will most likely be a NFL draft choice (though the bigotry in the NFL might prove that prediction wrong). What’s interesting is that, for the most part, the Mighty Wurlitzer that is Fox News and the rest of the conservative media establishment hasn’t really jumped on the whole ‘liberals are turning the NFL into sissyball’ thing. There’s an interesting reason why (boldface mine):

Why have Fox and its various radio outposts operated under a veil of near silence about this story? They did not respond to me for this story, but I did speak to Brian Frederick, an adjunct professor in Sports Industry Management at Georgetown University and a former senior editor at Media Matters. He said, “Fox News’s on-air talent is likely more progressive on the issue of gay rights than their audiences. As a result, it’s one of those topics that’s best left unexamined lest the hosts upset their fan base. Further, the Michael Sam story doesn’t really give them a way to attack the Obama administration or the Democrats, which is almost their sole function at this point.”

One can’t understand the last twenty years in U.S. political history without realizing that there is an entire news network that is a propaganda arm for the Republican Party–and the more rightwing elements of that party. This is not ideological bias, but an outright mission.

It really is no different that those old time Sunday morning evangelist shows, except that they make money selling commercials, instead of paying money to air.