Balderdash

Jason Van Steenwyk gives a good fisking to Editor and Publisher's attempts to obfuscate and explain away the obvious gross bias and imbalance in the news media shown by the Pew Report. here's a snippet:

Indeed, observes executive editor Smith of the Democrat-Gazette, "There are probably more social reformers in journalism than accountants. We tend to attract a certain kind of person."[ie: liberals]

Let’s see…it was conservatives who pushed for welfare reform. It’s conservatives pushing for tort reform, education reforms, social security reforms, and tax reforms. It’s conservatives pushing to reform abortion law and it’s conservatives pushing for the radical reform of the politics of the middle east region. But conservatives aren’t reformers. What balderdash!

Cal Thomas, known to take a conservative viewpoint now and then, backs the "unwelcome" argument, but adds that the profession "doesn't pay all that well unless you get to a certain level," discouraging many conservatives. Larry King, executive editor of the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald, agrees that conservatives "have more of a background that is perhaps more attuned to the financial aspects of the world."

Change the subject of King’s declaration to from “conservatives” to “Jews” and you get a sense of the speciousness and arrogance of his argument.

Gee. And I thought conservatives—particularly religious ones, were “poor, uneducated, and easy to command.”...

The leftish definition of "social reformers" has come to resemble the joke about the man who loved fresh air so much, he filled his whole house with it...then sealed the windows and doors to preserve it forever...

Posted by John Weidner at July 29, 2004 7:17 PM