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CORRESPONDENT OF THE DAY

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By Staff Reports

Published: December 4, 2008

Bias Is Killing American Media

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

There is little doubt that proclamations that the presidential election of 2008 will be recorded as truly a historic event in America will turn out to be accurate. On the other hand, time will tell if the mantra of "change" that symbolized this most recent campaign will materialize as it has been so enthusiastically advertised.

There was one very striking and obvious change that took place during this year's elections. There has been for some years a perception on the part of some that the national media often displayed a liberal slant. Now that the campaign is over several impartial polling agencies have produced data that indicate the media were openly and blatantly partisan in what they reported as well as in what they failed to report during this year's national campaign.

The "change" that I witnessed in this year's too-long and too-expensive campaign was that the major networks (except FOX News) and numerous national newspapers and weekly magazines stopped being subtle and unapologetically supported their candidate -- not only in editorials, which is OK, but also in their not so objective news stories.

If the print and broadcast media were openly "in the tank" during the campaign, is there any reason to believe that they will suddenly change their perspective in terms of how supportive they will be of "their" candidate as they promote another four-year term for their man and his party?

What happened to the old Journalism 101 concept that the media provide unbiased reporting of the good, the bad, and the ugly and let the public weigh the facts and decide for themselves? Is the independent news media dying, or already dead?

Bruce Lawton. Toano.