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I was in the media for about half of my adult life, and most of the complaints about it are understated. The problem isn’t bias, though. All writers carry with them some sort of bias about the world, and that bias is found in all writing. The problem is honesty about the bias.

Somewhere in the mid-20th century journalists started thinking of themselves as objective gatekeepers of information, to paraphrase Walter Lippmann’s phrase. That’s the moment that the stereotype of the reporter changed from a hard-drinking failed novelist to the Watergate-style advocate changing the world for the better. Readers recognize the hypocrisy of some writer telling them about objectivity when the bias is obvious to see, so circulation declines and people stop believing the media. As well they should, speaking as someone who was inside the business.

That’s also why Rush and Levin - and Colbert and Mahar - have loyal audiences. Rush’s bias is out there for everyone to see, and a listener can gauge reaction based on what is known about Rush’s beliefs and attitudes. If the New York Times simply admitted they’re a socialist mouthpiece for the American left, their circulation would skyrocket.

I saw this when I was the editor a little newspaper in Oregon. Every week I would publish a “this week in history” section of the editorial. I’d go back to the microfilm files of the three newspapers in that town - one paper for the Republicans (progressives), one for the Democrats (racist and xenophobic) and one for the Populists (back East bankers are the cause of all our problems). Each paper was wildly opinionated, and often just plain wrong. No one apparently cared, as circulation was close to 100 percent for all three papers. I sense that the citizens were entertained and amused. We would be, too, if we had a similar situation today.

Free speech and publication is all about expressing ideas. I have no doubt Peter Zenger and Thomas Paine were cranky, loud, opinionated people. They probably would have sneered at the idea that objectivity is a worthy goal, and the concept of a “fairness doctrine” would have driven them to frothing at the mouth.

In any case, I could see the implosion of the print media back in the middle 1990s and got out when I could. I only miss interviewing interesting people. Otherwise, it’s a business that is committing slow suicide.