The plank in the eye of CBS

There has been a lot of talk recently about the established media being scooped by the bloggers on the rathergate fiasco. In several interviews the established media admitted that bloggers are good at fact checking but not much else. Still it seems that established media is unwilling to admit that their political bias is the source of their problem. CBS was duped because people believed that CBS could be duped. The sad part is that they were taken advantage of by people their "friends". While Walter Cronkite complained that bloggers are ruining journalism with their carelessness and willingness to smear the innocent via unfounded accusations, CBS cannot see the plank in its own eye. I respect PBS news for the way they try to portray both sides of the story. I believe their first priority is as journalists. I doubt they have this problem.

I have begun to believe that the media bias has undermined U.S. foreign policy and the fight in Iraq. In other parts of the world where the information options are more limited, the established media has more influence than in the United States. I cannot help but conclude that this bias has done more to encourage terrorism than to frame a national debate. In the United States the media bias has probably contributed to the polarization of the population rather than exploring the differences.