Soccer Dad

The kettle's black

The NY Times has an unintentionally hilarious article about media bias, Ex-Journalists' New Jobs Fuel Debate on Favoritism. (via memeorandum).

I wouldn't say there's a debate over "favoritism," which is how the reporter describes liberal bias, I would say that what's reported if further proof of that.

Mr. Carney, the former Time bureau chief who now works as Mr. Biden's spokesman, said he did not view his job as particularly political either, given his boss's promise of bipartisanship.

"This is a Democratic administration; we're obviously on that side of the aisle, but I don't see this as a partisan job at all," Mr. Carney said in an interview.

He acknowledged having "an affinity for Joe Biden and Barack Obama." But he said it never influenced his coverage of the presidential campaign, as evidenced, he said, by the angry notes he often received from liberals last year concerning his coverage.

Mr. Carney had one of the more combative interview sessions with Mr. McCain, but he was also occasionally criticized by liberal groups like Media Matters, which once accused him of being too light on Mr. McCain.

Mr. Carney's former boss, Time magazine's managing editor, Richard Stengel, said of him, "I never had any evidence one way or another what his political leanings are."

That's a fine testimonial about Mr Carney's impartiality. Stengel should know.

Mr. Stengel left journalism to work on Bill Bradley's 2000 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Look I know that some journalists also end up in Republican campaigns and that there are journalists who are free from bias. However, bias is more prevalent than the Times is willing to admit and that bias mostly goes one way. Of course with slowing economy and the continued decline of media fortunes, we're likely to see a lot more journalists ending up on the government's payroll. It's not just their affinity for President Obama, it's business.