A long time ago in a career far away I wrote stories for the mainstream media. It’s the awful truth. Everything that you hear about the leftwing bias of the print media is true, except the details are even worse than you can imagine. Eventually, I quit. Like I said, this was a while ago, when Newt and Bill were fighting over school lunch money.
However, let me speak up for lack of objectivity. Lack of objectivity is the human norm. Nobody comes to the table without some kind of prevailing bias. The hope is that your bias and prejudice is based on sound judgment and moral virtue, but nobody leaves without having an opinion.
I used to publish a little history column at the bottom of my editorial when I ran this weekly paper in the People’s Republic of Oregon. In the year 1900, there were three papers in this little town of 3,000 - a Republican paper, a Democrat paper, and a Populist paper. All three were wildly popular. All three were spectacularly biased in their presentation of the news. I’m sure that reading these tiny town rags were the chief source of entertainment for the week.
Ninety years later I’m reading this stuff and thinking about the “objectivity” I’m supposed to be seeing in print, but seeing nowhere, and hearing nowhere among the journalists I worked with. Around this time I discovered Rush, the classic nonobjective voice. Entertaining, pointed, and biased - and honest and open about those biases. When I listen to Rush, I know what I’m getting and where it comes from. Ditto Hannity, Savage, O’Reilly, Ingram, and all the other talkers. They wear their biases right on their sleeves. That way, when I hear their presentation, I can understand why they’re saying what they’re saying and choosing the stories that they’re choosing to comment on.
Liberal and leftist media don’t do that. Obama is clearly a Marxist, yet goes to great lengths to hide it. The New York Times has been a leftist rag for as long as I remember, yet they claim a status of sitting above as all, the gatekeeper of knowledge for the masses. If the Times would just come out and say, “Yes, we’re leftists, and we support the Democrat party,” a lot of people would breathe a sigh of relief.
People aren’t interested in objectivity. They’re interested in honesty. That honesty starts with a clear understanding of the reporter’s motives and beliefs. In the old days, a community newspaper would defend its little town, support local businesses, and be a bulldog for local causes - again, not objective, but you knew where they stood. In the modern media, advocates travel from town to town, advocating for liberal causes, but hiding beneath a cloak of objective reporting. That kind of dishonesty shines like a light in the darkness. No wonder circulation numbers continue their decline, while talk radio and Internet readership soar.
People know that everyone has a viewpoint. All media should simply state theirs and then tell their side of the story. People will read it and make up their minds. It’s just hard to do when some parts of the media hide their intentions behind noble-sounding lies.
David Broder is the archetype whereof you speak. I think he must have smoked a pipe at one time -- it would seem to fit with his gig, which is much the same as you describe for the (old) New York Times, pre-Pinch.
During an election-night soiree, I guess it was 2004, Broder was participating in a TV roundtable -- I think it was ABC. Suddenly someone mentioned the name of Alan Keyes, and Broder's mask slipped. His lips twisted in a sneer, and a snarl escaped before he buttoned up again and resumed his professorial shtick. I had to laugh. At least someone had found his hot button.
Good story- we won’t hold your past associations against you ;)