Pair of local stories illustrate the ridiculous notion of the ‘Liberal media’

I continue to be amazed that people continue to try and float the ridiculous Nixonsque political strategy of the “liberals media.”

It has worked so well that reporters - I know because I was once one of them - work so hard to disprove that disgusting, false label that their reporting is skewed so far right it’s not funny. When you add the fact that 99.9 percent of the traditional media outlets are owned by a few large corporations, the media can truly be called conservative.

We see an excellent example of that in Sunday’s edition of the Livingston County Daily Press and Argus in a pair of pieces from reporter Kristofer Karol. He does an article on Republican presidential candidate Grampy McSame‘s desperation pick of small time mayor Sarah Palin as his VP.

In the article he quotes all local Republican leaders. Not one Democrat is quoted. That would seem to make the article a little one-sided. But it’s their candidate, so it may be nit-picking to criticize. The best quote is from Bill Rogers, the chair of the county Board of Commissioners and the Republican candidate for the 66th District state House seat. He says the pick of Palin is a political ply. I agree, at least with half of his argument.

“To me, this is all a political ploy," Rogers said. "They're going to say she's a novice, which then we ... see that the (Democratic) presidential hopeful is a novice, so it kind of killed that argument."

That’s in sharp contrast to his brother, Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, who toes the party lie:
"As a popular maverick governor who fought corruption, Governor Palin has demonstrated she shares Senator McCain's independence and dedication to fix a broken Washington.”

Is this the same Washington a member of the Keating 5 has been a part of for almost 30 years?

I don’t agree with many of Bill’s positions, but I respect him. If he’s elected, it will be refreshing to have someone who will represent all of the people in the 66th District, not just Republicans.

Judy Daubenmier, chair of the Livingston Country Democratic Party, has an excellent analysis of the article on her blog LivingBlue

There is also a story in the same edition by the same reporter on Democratic Presidential Nominee Sen. Barack Obama’s historic acceptance speech called “Area Dems inspired by Obama's speech.”

The problem here is the article quotes three Republicans in the story - all three were also quoted in the Palin story - and all three, of course, toe the party lie that Obama is just a good speaker and nothing else. Term-limited state Rep. Joe Hune’s quote is the most ridiculous, who says it was just fluff. This from a man who has done little in he state House besides collect a paycheck for six years.

“"I compare him to (Gov. Jennifer) Granholm: A lot of fluff," Hune said.

The story only quotes three Democrats, and the obvious question is why quote Republicans in this story and not quote Democrats in the Palin story?

The other disturbing thing is the Democratic quotes were collected at the convention watching party held Thursday at Memories Lounge and Restaurant in Brighton. I was there, and Mr. Karol was there too because I saw him. Why not talk about the excitement there, the overflow crowd or the volunteers making calls to undecided voters at the event?

Why the imbalance? I know reporters on small and mid-size daily newspapers have to churn out lots of copy on tight deadlines, buy one more phone call or two less would have added balance to both stories.