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To: conservatism_IS_compassion
This critique of journalism can be considered, in economic terms, to be a model of limited competition. The self-imposed limit on competition does not relate so much to prices, nor to speed of reporting, nor distribution. The singular area in which journalists do not compete is credibility.

The New York Times claims "All the News that's Fit to Print", and no competing newspaper or broadcaster disputes the claim. Conservatives (e.g., the Media Research Center) critique journalism's tendentiousness on a daily basis but the signature of the journalist is a get-along-to-go-along posture with respect to the credibility of any other journalist.

The prospect of competitive advantage to be gained by undermining the credibility of a given member of the competition is outweighed by the prospect of defending against a reply in kind by all of the competition. It is a case of "mutually assured destruction." Any journalist (e.g. Bernard Goldberg) who breaks the tabu on discussing "Bias" is instantaneously "not objective . . . not a journalist." As Ann Coulter (Slander) clearly understands, journalists cannot start using that technique on a conservative; they would have to stop first to be able to do that.

90 posted on 06/28/2002 10:00:09 AM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion
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To: conservatism_IS_compassion
the signature of the journalist is a get-along-to-go-along posture with respect to the credibility of any other journalist.
Say rather, the signature of the "liberal" is to never challenge a journalist's credibility, and never to accept someone who challenges a journalist's credibility as a "journalist."
91 posted on 06/28/2002 2:19:29 PM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion
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