None Dare Call It Bias

There's always some other explanation for why the media continuously favors liberals over conservatives. Take the same fact pattern-- someone leaks a story that he probably shouldn't have that is damaging to one one political party. If the political party that's hurt by the leak is the Republican Party, all the news coverage is about the substance of the leak, the disclosures within that leak. Those impugned by the leak are hounded for their transgressions.

If the Democratic Party is hurt by the leak, the coverage is almost always about the underhanded practice of leaking information, and how terrible it was that this leak occurred. In this case, it is not those impugned by the leak who are hounded by the press, but rather those miscreants who dared to leak relevant information to the press-- how could they do such an irresponsible and mean-spirited thing?

But it's not bias. Oh, no. Never political bias. Some fairly smart people spend an awful lot of their time thinking of alternate explanations, trying to come up with any theory that excludes the possibility of political bias.

Fat Kid chuckles, as the latest lame offering is "myopic zeal." Simple non-partisan fair-and-balanced myopic zeal.

Why, it's hardly even a flaw, when you think about it. Zeal is generally good, required, for example, by an attorney's ethical cannon; and myopia is a physical affliction for which the poor victim so stricken really should not be castigated. He should be given top-quality eye-care in order to correct his disability.

posted by Ace at 02:28 PM

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