LEFT BIAS? THAT'S ALL RIGHT BY US

Hartford Courant ^ | June 9, 2004 | Jim Shea

[tvn]

On a fairly regular basis, newspapers are accused of acting in concert to slant their coverage of President Bush.

This is, of course, true.

Although newspapers generally act independently, when it comes to President Bush they take great pains to always be on the same page.

Here is an inside look at how the process works at a typical newspaper:

First thing every morning, the top editors meet to discuss how the paper will be unfair and negative toward the president in the next day's paper.

This anti-Bush meeting is nicknamed "Get Shorty," and is presided over by the Skew Editor, who is generally, but not always, the most rabid Bush hater on the staff.

After a general plan of attack is agreed upon, the Skew Editor communicates with his counterparts at other newspapers to make sure everyone has their distortions straight.

While this is occurring, political editors at individual newspapers are meeting with their staffs to assign stories, and fill them in on the tone and content of their reporting.

These meetings can get pretty heated, particularly when a reporter feels the chosen direction of a story could come across as being even-handed.

It might be good to digress here for just a second to discuss how a reporter becomes a political writer.

Essentially, it is a fairly straightforward career path. Whenever an opening for a political writer comes up, the most liberal journalist in the pool of applicants is given the job.

As you may well imagine, paring down the list is extremely difficult given the left-of-communism leanings of pretty much all journalists.

Occasionally, the job of political writer will go to a reporter who has views that might be considered moderate or mainstream, but these people never last.

Conservatives are also excluded, unless they are so far to the right politically that they come across as wacko, in which case they are usually made op-ed columnists.

Anyway, after the political writers and editors get done molding stories to fit their preconceived notions, copies are faxed to the Democratic National Committee and the Kerry Campaign for final tweaking.

The stories then go to the copy desk, where the headlines are written.

A word about copy editors:

Copy editors who handle political stories are mainly selected on their ability to qualify headlines. This talent is important in the event that there is positive news about President Bush that cannot be buried deep inside the paper. You have no doubt seen their work:

500,000 Jobs Created in May, But a Guy in Ohio Is Still Out of Work.

[tvn]

You can reach Jim Shea at shea@courant.com.

[BADROTOFINGER]

Already posted. I am not, however, a posting Nazi...JFK

[Cicero]

I take it this is meant to be funny.

Ha, ha, ha.

[JeeperFreeper]

Shea trying to be satirical. Unfortunately for Shea, it's closer to a recitation of objective fact than satire.

[nmh]

The left has no influence over me at all. They are very ignorable.

[thoughtomator]

That's creepy, that it's so blatantly sarcastic yet so close to the truth!

[InterceptPoint]

This is very similar to the process followed by Talk Radio which is, as we all know, biased in the opposite direction. These things don't just happen. Coordination takes real work. Just ask Sean and Rush.

[dancusa]

Jim Shea is not an opinion columnist,his columns are satirical.Shea writes some very amusing columns that makes me laugh out loud sometimes.However his paper,the Hartford Courant writes about 10 anti-Bush stories per day and is considered very bias.For example they had an article about a D-Day vet ceremony,at the end they quote an 82 year-old vet saying he that Bush is finishing his daddy's war and it was only about oil.

[atomic conspiracy]

For the real story on media bias, the history and motivations behind it, see Thomas Frank's landmark cultural history, The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism.
("Why do this kind of advertising if not to incite people to riot?"—Nike copywriter, 1996)

[Paul_B]

Yes, that Shea guy is such a cut up. Absolutely hilarious. Silly conservatives.

The level of this writing is 3rd grade. One can only hope the readers, if there are any, are not fooled.

[ladyinred]

Shea trying to be satirical. Unfortunately for Shea, it's closer to a recitation of objective fact than satire.

.LOL I took it to be serious, it is just the truth!

[randog]

That's creepy, that it's so blatantly sarcastic yet so close to the truth!

I agree. There wasn't a whole lot he said that I can disagree with.

[SouthCarolinaKit]

I'm so, so, so, so, so glad that I've escaped from the
extreme leftists in Connecticut. There even Republicans like their governor are corrupt; the 'RATs go without saying are robbing the state blind. Highest taxes, worst services: great combination.

[xm177e2]

There is no actual "conspiracy" within the media to attack Bush. There is no central command, no high-level directives, no marching orders. But the bias is there. Smaller papers take their direction from the NYT's published material (not from secret communiques). Liberals in the media naturally slant the coverage toward their side and promote a climate of hostility within the workplace for conservatives and conservative values. The overrepresentation of homosexuals in the newsroom doesn't help this (but it's not the primary cause).

Reporters view almost everything with a critical eye. Businesses, Republicans, etc. But not other journalists, not other liberals. They're given a free pass. It's unfortunate. If the media was interested in being as critical towards themselves as they were towards destroying American businesses, they might be able to produce fair coverage. As it stands, they show no interest in this. They take any criticism as a personal insult and as the product of lesser minds.

[OldFashionedAmerican]

I, too, live in Connecticut, and you could not pay me to read that rag.