National media gives the rest of us a bad name

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

It's about time! MSNBC announced this week that they are taking Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews off the air as co-anchors of their election night coverage. Apparently, it finally sunk in at the powers that be at NBC that Olbermann and Matthews are just too biased toward the Democrats in their coverage. Here's just a sample of their "unbiased" coverage. On the first night of the convention in Denver, as Joe Scarborough talked about the resurgence of the McCain campaign, Olbermann said on the air "Jesus, Joe, why don't you get a shovel?" Then, at the Republican convention when the Republican party ran a tribute video to the victims of 9-11, Olbermann felt the need to apologize to viewers who felt offended and accused the Republicans of exploiting their memory. As Chris Matthews was interviewing GOP consultant Mike Murphy Olbermann could be heard off camera demanding "let's wrap him up, alright?" And yet he was giddy with his praise of Barak Obama's acceptance speech. DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe accused Matthews of being "in the tank" for the Obama campaign. Even veteran NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw said Matthews had "gone too far" and added that Olbermann and Matthews were "not the only voices" on MSNBC. Let's face it, MSNBC has turned in to nothing more than a Bush-bashing network. Olbermann has built big ratings on his program "Countdown" for his rants against everything George W. Bush has done as president. And that's fine. He's welcome to his opinion -- as a commentator. But if he can't offer an unbiased assessment of the news, he doesn't belong on the air during the election pretending to be a journalist. If you watch "Countdown," notice Olbermann never has guests on who disagree with his point of view or offer any kind of balance. Olbermann, who makes $4 million a year, has even tried to get Brokaw banned from MSNBC. I guess he is afraid somebody might show him up for the phony that he is. I'm glad NBC news execs have pulled the plug. I guess the tipping point that made the light bulb go off came during Sarah Palin's speech when she assailed the news media for their bias. Delegates on the convention floor began chanting "NBC! NBC!" Hard to miss, even for the left-wing suits in New York City. A new poll by Rasmussen Reports found that seven out of 10 voters (69%) are convinced that reporters try to help the candidate they want to win. And this year, by a five-to-1 margin, voters believe they are trying to help Barak Obama. In another poll, over half (51%) of voters think reporters are trying to hurt Sarah Palin with their news coverage. "Journalists" like Olbermann and Matthews, and the national press corps in general, give the rest of us a bad name. I've been a reporter for nine years and not once have I ever been accused of being unfair to anyone. Sure, I've taken flak from mayors who don't like what the other side said. But you know what? I tell everybody that if you want me to print what you say, I have to print what the other side says too. I'm not anybody's public relations guy. If you want to hire me to be your PR guy, fine. I'll think about it. But I am not in the tank for anybody.

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