Name the source of t…

Name the source of this quote:

Like every other institution, the Washington and political press corps operate with a good number of biases and predilections.

They include, but are not limited to, a near-universal shared sense that liberal political positions on social issues like gun control, homosexuality, abortion, and religion are the default, while more conservative positions are “conservative positions.”

They include a belief that government is a mechanism to solve the nation’s problems; that more taxes on corporations and the wealthy are good ways to cut the deficit and raise money for social spending and don’t have a negative affect on economic growth; and that emotional examples of suffering (provided by unions or consumer groups) are good ways to illustrate economic statistic stories.

Did this come from the Media Research Center? From Rush Limbaugh? From The Wall Street Journal’sJames Taranto? If you guessed Taranto, you’re almost right. He noted it in his Best of the Web Today column.

But the source is none other than a blog run by ABC News called The Note! There’s quite a bit more, and it’s worth reading. (Do it soon, though. I don’t see anything resembling “Permalinks” on the site, so if it scrolls off, it may be gone forever.)

The views are certainly not news to anyone with a reasonable set of eyes and ears that not only take in the news itself, but personal views of reporters that have been made public. What’s “Note”-worthy here is that the official website of a major media organization is finally coming right out and admitting what it has, for so long, tried to avoid, discount, or deny. And now, in black and white, here it is for all the world (including Eric Alterman, et. al.) to see, read, and really digest.

This is monumental, but will those who deny such bias really be swayed? Hold not thy breath. As Taranto predicts, “The times may be changing. Of course, you just know the left-wing ‘media critics’ will jump on this as evidence that the media are actually biased in favor of conservatives.” Of course, that’s not much of a “prediction”. It’s simply a matter of believing that what has happened in the past, regardless of how nutty, will just continue to happen.

ABC News, welcome to the blogroll. This is going to be interesting.

UPDATE: Looks like the closest thing to a permalink to the entry is here. (Thanks again to Taranto for chasing that down.)

Filed under: Uncategorized

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!