As a former newspaper reporter I go nuts when I hear terms like the "liberal media," "liberal bias," and "liberal elite." I worked as a news reporter for a medium-sized newspaper, and I can tell you this: WE AIN'T ALL THAT LIBERAL. We really do try to be fair, objective, and unbiased — it's a professional integrity thing with us.
The problem we face is that as reporters, we are exposed to all different types of experiences coming from all directions. When we put it all together, we often have a really broad perspective on life that the average person doesn't see. It's a real neat thing — it's like standing in a ranger tower above the tree line and we can look around and see treetops for miles. It's exhilarating up here, but just because we are up high doesn't make us "elite" or "snobs." We are just doing our jobs.
The second thing is that we are trained to ask questions, and a good reporter questions EVERYTHING. Our job is to get the TRUTH to our readers in a fair and balanced format. Sometimes people don't like what the truth says, so we are accused of bias.
Also, people often aren't truthful with us when we interview them, so that makes us a little cynical and untrusting, and we just end up asking tougher questions. Other times, we know that folks are trying to use us, and we are no dummies because people try to use us every day. Sure, some folks could afford to put their message in a paid advertisement, but everyone knows that an article appears much more credible than an ad, so individuals are ALWAYS trying to get ink. This makes us even more cynical. A lot of times this cynicism leaks through in our writing, despite our best efforts to be objective, and folks perceive our cynicism as a "liberal slant."
But I'm telling you, this questioning thing is like letting the genie out of the bottle. Once you start questioning, you tend to question everything. It's like you've just entered Alice's Wonderland or Dorothy's Land of Oz, and you're exploring a fourth dimension, and each question provides a little more light. You start digging into psychology, science, and history, and then you start seeing the "root causes" behind human behavior and world events. But if you make too much mention of the background or setting, then you are called a "liberal fink." If you mention the Bush's long-time relationship with the Saudi royal family in your article on the War Against Terrorism, well, you are just a rotten reporter for even bringing it up.
Our editors make sure we "dumb down" our articles so that we don't piss off advertisers, readers, or the publisher's golf buddies. So our job is extremely political. The goal of most reporters today is simple: don't make anyone angry. Oh sure, you can do a little cosmetic digging to look like you are an "investigative" publication, but don't dig too far.
People like Michael Moore, an independent filmmaker and Greg Palast, a BBC correspondent, are not slaves to media politics like we are, so they can be a little more BOLD and TRUTHFUL than your average journalist. But, these lone renegades of truth are few and far between. The rest of us must worry about some organization boycotting us or a big advertiser pulling their ads, and we are indirectly reminded each day that journalism is ABOUT MAKING MONEY, and that's really the bottom line. There aren't a lot of philanthropic, idealistic media outlets left in our country. Most of the press is now owned by big chains. Sure, they're both conservatives and liberals in the media, but rest assured they are kept on leashes, and they are only there because the readers like them. And the liberal media outlets can run advertisements for granola, while the conservative outlets can run ads for hair replacement systems, so everyone is happy.
Also, the same thing goes for the "Hollywood liberal elite." They ain't really all that bad. They have just traveled a lot, talked to a lot of people, and see things in a different perspective. And unlike us yard dog journalists, they actually have the freedom to speak their minds.
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