[SunStar]

Leftists peruse the Guardian while right-of-center people scan the Daily Telegraph.

Hmm... Isn't that how it is here?

Washington Post (liberal) vs. Washington Times (conservative)
New York Times (liberal) vs. New York Post (conservative), etc.?

[LS]

You live and learn. Journalists decided in the Civil War era to try to aim for "objective" journalism and set up codes of conduct; new publishing objectives; strategies to downplay political bias in reporting. "Objectivity," "fairness," and fact-based reporting soon triumphed over the moralistic Progressive press and held sway for the next 50 or so years, until the 1960s. For a number of reasons, the media gradually abandoned this "objectivity" in the 1960s, then RAN away from it in the 1980s, to the point that the national media was simply not trustworthy on major news issues.

We have now come full circle, to a "partisan press" not unlike the Jacksonian era, and that is not bad. The reporters were NEVER unbiased, but the "holier-than-thou" approach they took insulated them for 20 years, from Cronkite to Jennings.

Far better to have networks and papers say up front their politics, and let US decide which news is valid, than to trick the public into thinking that it is getting "objective" news.

[MEG33]

I think MSNBC had one of the best embeds..Dr. Bob Arnott.I like Fox and simply don't watch the big three for national news.

[narby]

This is why my tag line is:

[backhoe]

What really galls me is the pretense most reporters, journalists, and writers make of being "objective."

This is utter hogwash- everyone, right, left, or center, has biases, viewpoints, and a body of life experiences that color their perceptions- it is far better to acknowledge "where you come from" and try to compensate, than pretend to be "fair."

[sd-joe]

"The New York Times worries about the baleful "Fox News Effect" on journalism."

The NYT worries about Fair and Balanced, and well they should with their biased agenda.

[Uncle Miltie]

Not mentioned in the ratings was the Antiamerican Broadcasting Corporation, and their disdainful moral equivalence machine from Canada.

[BillF]

"There is a long-standing tradition in the mainstream press of middle-of-the-road journalism that is objective and fair." says SeeBS.

It's laughable that the network that employs Dan Rather ( click on http://www.ratherbiased.com) would say this.

[News sources] that provide their readers, viewers and listeners with the best information and superior analysis will tend to win out over those who offer chiefly partisan screeds. CBS News and other mainstream media have nothing to fear from the "Fox effect" if they keep that simple standard in mind.[emphasis added]

SeeBS has everything to fear precisely because it has NOT been providing accurate and fair reporting in recent memory.

[RAT Patrol]

"There is a long-standing tradition in the mainstream press of middle-of-the-road journalism that is objective and fair." Liar, liar!

[urbanrights]

to opine that the mainstream media is non-biased could not be more biased

[bolthead]

There is a long-standing tradition in the mainstream press of middle-of-the-road journalism that is objective and fair.

Talk about drinking your own bathwater...he's sitting in that tub with a big ole slurpee straw.

[Libloather]

"There is a long-standing tradition in the mainstream press of middle-of-the-road journalism that is objective and fair."

I think I heard the very same thing mentioned by the Iraqi Minister of Information...

[Brett66]

I think the internet has played a significant role in re-establishing the concept of news souces that unabashadly claim their biases. The readers of news sources are the true judge of what is or isn't biased, not a bunch of liberal hacks engaged in a circle jerk.

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

Firstly, objectivity is impossible, so state your biases up front so people know where you're coming from. Then make your best effort to be accurate, truthful, and fair, which is possible.

Secondly, what is Shep Smith's position on abortion? What does Linda Vester think about human cloning? How does John Gibson feel about welfare reform? Is Rita Cosby pro- or anti-gun control? I don't know any of these things. Perhaps I just wasn't paying enough attention before the war, but it seems to me that accusations of "partisan bias" depend wholly on the fact that Fox's news anchors and reporters are definitely pro-American. They want America to prosper, and they have all along wanted America to win this war, and the wider war against terrorism. They also don't like Saddam Hussein.

The fact that simple patriotism is grounds for an accusation of "partisanship" in this country demonstrates conclusively why the left can not at the present time be permitted any share of power in the federal government.

Neutrality betwen the US and Saddam Hussein is not "objective." It's sick. Electing these people to office would be a national suicide attempt.

[CharacterCounts]

ABC is Fair and objective

FOX is Fair and balanced

CBS is middle of the road

All are being intellectually dishonest. Fox obviously has a center right tilt why the rest of the media outlets have a center left tilt. The only result of the Fox effect is that more networks may move to a center-right tilt with their newscasts. This type of change will be easier for MSNBC than for the tree major networks since they carry a full day of liberal programming (sitcoms, dramas, etc).

CNN has so many internal problems it will take a long time for them to make any headway against Fox. This war was suppsed to be the thing that brought CNN to the forefont but they were beaten handily by Fox. Now, with the disclosure from Mr. Jordan their troubles are only compounded.

[sinclair]

“perhaps the United States is returning to a time when media were frankly partisan.“

I wonder what this numb-nuts thought of the “non-partisan” reporting of the New York Times or the Washington Post during the past 40 or so years?

As Bugs Bunny so aptly says it; What a maroon!

[spodefly]

This article was objective.

[foreverfree]

bump

[fabriclady]

With all due respect, Mr. Heyward, mainstream media had their chance and blew it. You said and I quote "CBS News and other mainstream media have nothing to fear from the "Fox effect" if they keep that simple standard in mind."
It is a little late. The Fox effect, as you call it is Fair ad Balanced. We won't be back. Mainstream media was, in my opiion, bias and I believe even lied to slant news. They should move on to comedy. Fox News is #1

[the lone wolf]

"perhaps the United States is returning to a time when the media were frankly partisan"

Maybe. Until recently, the media have been unfrankly partisan, in the tank for Leftism.

What Fox News is doing is telling the story from a non-Leftist viewpoint, and it drives the Left absoultely nuts...