[Int]

The first rule of journalism is impartiality. I haven't seen a newspaper or broadcast that has met this requirement in decades. And so they dissolve. And someone new, someone impartial comes aboard. And succeeds reporting news impartially. And everyone learns a lesson. What's the downside?

Sounds good. But what the author seems to fear (and I would tend to agree with him on this) is that there will be no new impartial media out there to replace the flawed Old Media. As he mentions, the news websites that are most popular at the moment, are anything but impartial. Blogs are almost invariably partisan. Is impartiality doomed?

[Hi Heels]

I don’t know. We’re Americans. Inventive. Heads would rise above the crowd. I’d buy an impartial newspaper. I’m 54. I’d love to SEE an impartial newspaper for once.

[central_va]

there will be no new impartial media out there to replace the flawed Old Media.

Actually, the raw AP news website is fairly impartial.

Try it here.

[Mygirlsmom]

Is impartiality doomed?

Not sure it ever really existed (or is necessary for that matter). What we are experiencing with the New Media is a refreshing honesty as to where the point of view is coming from.

Admitting one's bias allows the individual news gatherer to truly analyze the issue from different perspectives and to accept or reject the argument on its merits.

[metesky]

If either of you think that "the first rule of journalism is impartiality", you don't know much about the history of newspapers in this country.

Impartiality = never was, never will be. Period.

[cameraman]

I've often thought about the ability to be impartial when reporting. I was born in the 70's so I cannot comment well on anything before Reagan (I remember Carter but was too young to pay any attention) As long as I can remember there has never been impartial news presentations either in print or on TV. It will always be skewed either right or left depending on the person writing/presenting the information. This is not necessarily a bad thing.

IMHO today's problem is that the MSM presents themselves as being impartial when they are not. If nothing else, the presence of FOX news and the emergence of conservative print media offers a juxtaposition of ideas that highlights the MSM's left wing bias. A good idea to offer true impartiality would be to create a web site like impartiality.com and offer two articles side by side, one from a conservative POV and the other from the liberal POV, and then have commentary on both articles. Only through comparison would a truly well educated, impartial POV be able to be achieved.