Much has been made of the bias of the of the press the last few years.  There is absolutely no question that there is a significant bias in the press.  Although this exists on both the left and the right, there is also no question that the vast majority of it is to the left.

Much of the press makes claims to objectivity and worries over accusations of bias.  This is a blatantly disingenuous concern, as most of the members of the press are not generally concerned about unbalanced reporting, but only of being perceived as biased.  The question is, why?  Although they prescribe to a code of ethics, this code doesn’t even mention objectivity anymore and never should have.  So what are they so concerned about?

Objectivity was not the goal of the early English newspapers.  The New England Courant, published by James and then Benjamin Franklin, was far from objective.  Why should any modern newspaper or television news program be objective?  There is no mention of the objectivity of the press in the Constitution, only the freedom of it.  This constitutional right was included by the ratifiers of our Constitution to ensure that political speech challenging the government would not be suppressed.

The problem we face today is the myth of objectivity.  If we foolishly take the word of the liberal press when they make their claim of objectivity, we set ourselves up to accept a severely subjective viewpoint as objective.  What we should be demanding is a simple admission that no news organization is objective.  This way lies the nearest approximation of truth.  If each news organization was honest about its bias, we would at least know that we are listening to or reading the news coming from that slant.  The reason most news organizations and reporters don’t want you to be aware of their bias, is that you won’t accept their reporting as unadorned fact.  That might lead you to dangerous activities such as thinking for yourself; not something they want you to do.

I don’t even want objectivity from the press.  Almost no journalist is capable of removing their personal preconceptions from their reporting, so I would rather know what they believe.  How much easier if the news organization only hires those that share those beliefs and thus makes it clear to the consumer which way the wind blows.

Contrary to what most liberals claim, Fox News doesn’t make any claim to objectivity.  Their tagline is ‘fair and balanced.’  Fair to those who have 2 pounds of trash land on their driveway 7 days a week that is so liberal it almost slides off the left side onto the lawn.  Fair to travelers that are abused by CNN in most airports without their consent, and without airsick bags in the terminal.  Fair to those of us looking for news from a non-liberal point of view, and finally finding it.  Unfortunately, balance is nearly impossible to achieve in the journalistic climate of today, but at least the scale tips a little less to the far left with Fox on the air.  I congratulate them on the more honest approach.  At least I know that their view is from slightly right of center.  Talk radio is an even better source of news.  I have no doubts about where Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, Dennis Prager, and others stand.  They tell you very clearly exactly where that is.  I can listen knowing which way that news leans.

To talk radio, Fox news, and to many bloggers out there; Thank you for your honest admission of your political and social bent.

To most of the rest of the press; own up to your bias.   I don’t mind that you have it, just that you choose to hide it under the myth of objectivity.