Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Just another day in the "news" room

Media bias is a subject near and dear to my heart, in part because I used to be a denier.

When I worked as a reporter, and conservatives would complain about media bias, I would smile and shake my head and say something like, "Oh, some reporters lean Democrat, but we all work very hard to report things straight and fair," because that's what I did.

But after a few years, it became fairly obvious to me that I was wrong. I watched fellow editors and reporters go out of their way to include their political slants in what were supposed to be "news" stories. As I got older it became obvious that I was in a business where 90% or more of my colleagues had liberal biases, and weren't afraid to show it.

And it's gotten worse over the years. A once-great news organization like NBC News is tangled up with MSNBC, an electronic version of a children's playground, where pseudo-journalists like Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews are free to voice their personal bigotry under the guise of "reporting." And on and on it goes across CBS and ABC, the New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, etc., etc...Liberal "reporters" bending and slanting the news in an effort to create a narrative favorable to liberals.

Today it may have bottomed out when the former Political Director of ABC News and head of Yahoo News David Chalian made a tasteless, racist joke about Mitt and Ann Romney. Not realizing there was a live microphone nearby, Chalian watched video of the Romneys waving and smiling and - in an apparent reference to Hurricane Isaac - said the Romneys are "happy to have a party with black people drowning."

(You can hear the audio here.)

Once Chalian was identified, Yahoo quickly fired him. But what's important to remember about this incident is that if it hadn't been on tape, nothing would have happened. In the background you can hear others in the room laughing at his joke. Without the tape, it's just another day at the office for these folks, calling Republicans racist and laughing about it.

Over the years, I've been in enough newsrooms and hung with enough reporters for this to all sound so, so familiar. The news you hear every day comes through the same filter, one of bigotry and prejudice against conservatives and their ideas.

There's no doubt in my mind that David Chalian and his colleagues aren't disappointed with his "joke," they're just disappointed that he got caught.


6 comments:

  1. Appreciate the honesty. Great reporting on your part. Keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete
  2. My feelings exactly. Great post.

    ReplyDelete
  3. While I agree that MSNBC is very liberal I do like Rachel Maddow because she reports facts. But, what I would really like to know is how you left Fox news off your list? The network owned by Murdock makes stuff up all the time. Even Canadian cable has pulled them because they found them to dishonest.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anyone who considers Maddow a reporter of "facts" is clearly a little detached from reality. She's probably your source for the "fact" that Fox News is not available in Canada. In "fact," Fox News is available on Bell, Telus, Rogers and other major cable providers all across Canada.

      But, hey, thanks for reading, and when you can figure out how to spell words like "too" and "Murdoch," come back and visit again.

      Delete
  4. Hey Tim I was typing fast between clients. I was told that by my Canadian cousins. But you still neglected to mention the bias of Fox. I mean come on... O'Rielly, the two bimbos on 5 round table discussion. As my Dad did I give amble time to both sides and then decide. I'll take Maddow over Glen Beck any day!
    Meridith

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The beauty of being a liberal is that you can deal in offensive stereotypes - like calling women you have never met "bimbos" - and no one will ever call you out on your bigotry.

      Glenn Beck hasn't had a show on Fox News for quite some time. I'm not sure how he's germane to the discussion.

      Here are Tuesday night's ratings numbers for Fox and MSNBC, from Nielsen Research:

      Fox News: 5,150,407 viewers
      MSNBC: 1,316,619 viewers

      I think the American public has made up its mind on the credibility of Maddow vis-a-vis Fox

      Delete