A Matter Of Perspective

A few random thoughts on media bias:

Yesterday's Democrat & Chronicle contained a story about the Democrats failed attempts to oust Wayne Zyra as President of the Monroe County Legislature. The report discussed the fact that there were several "party line" votes.

So if the votes were all "party line", why is it that the D&C portrays the GOP as the partisan, unyielding party? Have there been any issues where the Democrats came around and sought a compromise? From my perspective, the past few years have been full of partisan maneuvering by both parties. The Democrats intransigence on the sales tax, David Gantt's antics, Bob Duffy's "reservations" about Ren Square all struck me as partisan politics. The D&C didn't think so.

It seems however, that the term "partisanship" only applies to the GOP's actions. The Democrats, being the noble and progressive public servants that they are, only want what's best for the people. Thus their actions are characterised as righteous efforts at thwarting the GOP's malefactions.

On the national scene, the media's treatment of the Edwards sex scandal is similarly instructive. The New York Times and the other big players in the mainstream media, would not even look into the Edwards story, let alone report on it. The msm quickly dismissed the story as a tabloid fairy-tale.

Lets compare that to the story the Times broke about John McCain and his alleged affair with a lobbyist. The Times didn't have a problem reporting on the "fact" that there were rumors of an affair by McCain. So they reported on those rumors while they would not even check the facts on an actual affair by Edwards.

What could the difference be? I guess its a matter of perspective.