How does the left has a vice grip on discourse in media? The most watched cable news network is conservative. The largest operator of local tv is conservative.
Without wading into the weeds, one casualty of these American political times is the loss of intellectual conservatism as a tenable public position.
We are all made greater having our convinctions tested with honest debate, and lesser for the lack of it.
The end result is a polarized society driven by a stagnant discourse of self-indulgent moral platitudes.
Edit: meanwhile in Oregon the conservatives have fled to break a quorum rule and are issuing press releases with armed anti-government groups. As the Maoists discovered, who needs intellectuals when you have guns and slogans?
Maximizing personal economic freedom and unrestricted international trade, for two.
So I would say there are certainly platform points that are more alternatives than forward vs backwards. Or were.
Fox has consolidated the right-leaning audience. Anyone who complains about them should always follow the complaint asking why there aren't more conservative news networks to keep them honest.
As another commenter pointed out, the only thing that can be tought of as "left-wing" with them is that they are to the left of Fox News.
To go back to basics, left means distributing profits more equally, having built-in methods of solidarity, and giving power to the people (all of them).
In USA. But nowadays is more complicated than this. There is also CCTV and Al Jazeera for example that have a mix of USA and non-USA watchers largely exceding the number of USA population.
In your world george bush jr. is a socialist lefty.