All the News That Fits Our Views We Print

I have long felt that the mainstream media (msm) has a liberal bias. The bias I am writing of is, not that reflected in editorial pages. Clearly, any newspaper or outlet is entitled to its editorial opinion. My concern deals with the biases that have seemed to creep into what should be objective reporting.

Extreme right-wing writers have gone so far as to accuse some major papers (e.g., the New York Times, Washington Post, L.A. Times) of being, in effect, house organs for the Democrat Party. I have previously written such sentiments off as over the top, but the recent stories in the Times and Post regarding the maneuvering in the Senate over the Iraq resolutions has me rethinking that view.

For background, take a look at these PowerLine posts on the issue: http://powerlineblog.com/archives/016721.php and http://powerlineblog.com/archives/016707.php .

Clearly, these (formerly?) great newspapers have one set of rules and opinions for Democrats and another set for the GOP. But it is the Washington Post story (linked in the update to the first Power Line reference above) that most astonished me. That story characterized the GOP as having blocked debate for procedural reasons. There was no reporting of the underlying motives of both parties or the fact that it was the Democrats who prevented the full Senate from voting on the full range of choices.

That story was so far from a report on what happened as to have been an intentional falsehood. As I noted in a previous post, Thomas Jefferson must be rolling over in his grave at the demise of the Fourth Estate.