| The double standard in reporting on 527s suggests that some of the withering scrutiny visited on the Swift boat veterans should be directed inward.
This scrutiny is not reported in the paper; most reporters don't even know about it. It will pop out months from now, in Pew surveys that show the public ranking newspaper reporters beneath Nigerian fraud spammers in terms of truthfulness. Circulation will continue to decline; for the broadcasters, viewership will decline. And the whole time they will think it has something to do with technology, or sizzling graphics, or a populace that just doesn't care. They don't seem to get it that 50% of their audience is on the right side of the political spectrum. This constant liberal tilt to everything in the newspaper is insulting and angry-making. This latest Amazing Thing, where a cable news channel out-drew all three broadcast networks when covering a prime-time news event, ought to be all the evidence any corporate bean-counter needs to conclude that the conservative half of the country is not being served by having all three broastcast networks tilting to the left. Locked in a tight ratings race? Dump the liberals! If Fox can out-draw you with a cable channel, then the segment they are reaching is bigger than you are. The first broadcast network that dumps its role as a mouthpiece for the Democratic Party, and becomes something that Republicans can watch without wanting to throw things at the television, will suddenly discover there is money to be made with a news division. Why can no one see this when it has been demonstrated by Murdoch? |
There is plenty of withering scrutiny being directed at the press these days. The behavior of reporters and editors toward the Swift Boat Vets is so blatantly partisan that even long-time doubters of "media bias" have to admit that we are watching the Media Wing of the Democratic Party go nuts.