Political journalists

This MSNBC story, about journalists who donate money to political parties and candidates, is getting a lot of attention. (MSNBC's full list is here.)

I can't say I'm surprised that their donations ran 9-1 in favor of the Democrats (and given Bush's approval ratings these days, that's probably not that disproportionate). To be honest, I can't get that worked up about it. On the contrary, I wish journalists were more open about their biases. If the guy who wrote a news story is an unrepentant partisan, I'd like to know about it.

Damian P.

Update: Captain Ed adds:

...the reaction of these media outlets tends towards cover-up rather than openness. In that sense, they take a page from modern campaign-finance reform by trying to solve a problem through top-down suppression of political action rather than just opting for full disclosure. As my friend Paul Mirengoff notes, demanding an end to political donations does nothing to establish balance or objectivity; it just hides the evidence of bias a little more effectively. It hides information from the news consumers that could give them a more informed basis on which to judge the product.

And there's an even more fundamental problem with this approach. Why should journalists have to trade away their rights to political expression in order to work in the media? They are Americans, after all. ...

Posted by damian at June 22, 2007 07:15 AM