The good news in Deborah Howell's latest column is that she actually admits there is a bias problem in the media.
But some of the conservatives' complaints about a liberal tilt are valid. Journalism naturally draws liberals; we like to change the world. I'll bet that most Post journalists voted for Obama. I did. There are centrists at The Post as well. But the conservatives I know here feel so outnumbered that they don't even want to be quoted by name in a memo.
Ed Driscoll quotes James Lileks who has, perhaps, the best answer for this:
The first question in any J-school application ought to be "do you want to change the world?" And anyone who answers yes gets kindly turned away. Your job is to describe the way the world changes. Not pretend you're there to nudge it along towards utopia.
The bad news in Howell's column is that many journalists are still in denial.
Journalists bristle at the thought of their coverage being viewed as unfair or unbalanced; they believe that their decisions are journalistically reasonable and that their politics do not affect how they cover and display stories.
Tom Rosenstiel, a former political reporter who directs the Project for Excellence in Journalism, said, "The perception of liberal bias is a problem by itself for the news media. It's not okay to dismiss it. Conservatives who think the press is deliberately trying to help Democrats are wrong. But conservatives are right that journalism has too many liberals and not enough conservatives. It's inconceivable that that is irrelevant."
Journalists weren't trying to help Obama win? Really? That's a rather difficult whopper to swallow when so many journalists admit they vote for Obama and when studies show coverage of Obama was overwhelmingly positive compared to John McCain's. This isn't even bringing up Howell's other column in which she admits the WaPo's coverage was undeniably favorable to Obama.
Journalists could do a lot to rectify the bias most Americans see if they tried to be more even-handed in their coverage and more critical of their own behaviors.
The biggest problem in the campaign coverage was the MSM's incuriosity about Barack Obama and their reluctance to dig for dirt. They had no problem trying diligently to portray Sarah Palin as unqualified and unfit to be president (when she wasn't running for the job), but completely dismissed the relevance of arguments about Obama's experience (or lack thereof), his voting record, his past, etc.
Comparing, for example the questions Charlie Gibson asked Barack Obama versus Sarah Palin, it's difficult to disguise why Obama was given softball questions while Palin was scrutinized on the finer points of public policy.
The problem isn't just the perception of bias. It's the fact that many journalists have abandoned objectivity and actively slant their coverage the way they decide it should go. In other words, many, if not most, journalists think their job is to change opinions, not just present information for readers/viewers/listeners to chew on. Until Howell can admit that the problem is journalists' behavior, not the public's perception, there will be little change.
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