American Journalists Love Liars

From Matthew Yglesias

from JoeUser Forums

Actually, the problem with this is that it favours liars:

"Whether or not Bush's budget proposal is, in fact, likely to reduce the deficit in half over five years is a question of fact, and the answer is 'no.' Whether it will improve the long-term fiscal outlook is a question of fact, and the answer is 'no.' By relegating factual conclusions about budgets and macroeconomics to the opinion section, newspapers throughout the country have created an all-pervasive bias in favor of whichever side in a given dispute is wrong."

Matt's got it right, though. American journalists are so afraid of being accused of bias -- especially liberal bias -- that they've substituted "even handedness" for "objectivity".

As Paul Krugman puts it, if the Bush administration claimed the Earth was flat these would be the headlines:

"FOX NEWS: The Earth is Flat (Those Who Say Differently Hate America) "

"NEW YORK TIMES: Shape of the Eath: Views Differ"

Republicans call it "working the refs"; making journalists so afraid of accusations of liberal bias that they refuse to report the facts.
politics
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