Jalapeno Bootyhole Posted:

I’ve always been a staunch defender of what they call “the MSM.” Like Shii, I went to school for journalism and I’ve always been a news junkie. Of course — like everything else — you have to read the news with a critical eye and be aware of possible (probable) bias. But my experience with MSM “criticism” is that it tends to originate from the absolute lowest patch of dirt encircling the ivory tower that is the media, and that is — wait for it — angry, anonymous posters on conservative blogs.

These are often people who have willfully removed themselves from the “mainstream,” inasmuch as they’ve removed themselves from all logic and reason. The MSM doesn’t conform to their ultraconservative views of the world, so they worship Rush Limbaugh, home-school their kids, reference Conservapedia and put the Bible above the Constitution.

Of course, I’m stereotyping here. I’m not really trying to fuel a long and boring ideological war. But I’ll tell you this much: I agree with conservatives that the mainstream media has a liberal bias. My response to that is because it is necessarily so. The implication is, if you’ve devoted yourself to truth, objective reality and a deeper understanding of today’s issues, you won’t be able to help but adopt a more liberal viewpoint.

I’m not saying there are no smart, educated conservatives (hell, I’m considered conservative on a number of issues), but the stats indicate they’re the exception to the rule.

Personally, I’m happy to see how Obama’s popularity has dragged even the right-wing media outlets (and blogs) closer to the middle. And ironically, as the MSM starts to crumble due to economic difficulties, the criticism will start to dry up as people realize they miss fact-checking, proper grammar and actual reportage.

I would vehemently disagree with you on the point that “liberal bias” is the standard for more truthful newstelling.

Liberal vs. conservatism doesn’t have anything to do with “truth.” It’s your stance on different policies. The only reason you think that “liberal media” is the benchmark for truthiness (to steal the word from Colbert) is because the only decently accurate new sources we have are all liberal.

I’ll be the first to say that Fox does a pretty lousy job, but not because their political stance makes them more likely to be subject to opinion and anger and whatnot. They do a lousy job because they’ve hired opinionated, stereotypical people as their news anchors. This is partially because since media is so liberally biased most new, fresh news anchors are going to lean that way.

Disagreeing with economic stimuli and free health care doesn’t mean I’m less truthful or more opinionated. It just means that I disagree with those policies.