• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, November 27, 2012

As conservatives regroup following the Republican defeat in the 2012 presidential election, attention is turning once again to the role of news media, which many conservatives have accused of left-wing bias.

Cox Media Group, which owns the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is planning to launch a national news Web site targeting conservative audiences, according to recruitment ads posted on Mediabistro and other media Web sites.

While the as-yet-unnamed Web site aims for national coverage, it will apparently come with a decided regional slant. The Cox ads describe it as “rooted in the South, away from the right and left coasts” and targeting “heartland conservatives.”

According to one job posting: “The editor must establish a strong ideological narrative and lead the editorial team to find stories that mirror or magnify it.” At the same time, the site is described as “independent (nonpartisan)” and “anti-propaganda.”

Despite the alleged left-wing media charge, the news site will have some stiff competition. Over the past decade, Fox News has made itself into the country’s most popular cable news network, with a combination of conservative opinion and right-leaning news reporting. Talk radio is dominated by right-wing hosts; Rush Limbaugh is still the most popular American radio talk show host.

On the Web, there are scores of right-wing political blogs, some of which are now venturing beyond commentary into primary news creation, including The Druge Report, Breitbart.com and hotair.com.

In print media, veteran conservative stalwarts like The National Review and The Weekly Standard have been joined by some newer publications in recent years, including the print edition of Newsmax, which had 215,000 paying subscribers in 2011.