The Los Angeles Times' handling of its Schwarzenegger groper story raises plenty of questions about its sourcing and timing, many of them explored in today's Wall Street Journal and earlier in the San Francisco Chronicle and USA Today.
But much of the debate appears to be rooted in ideology, the latest skirmish between those who tend to see various Big Media as mouthpieces of the Left or the Right.
On The O'Reilly Factor on Fox Tuesday evening, Bill O'Reilly dismissed as ridiculous charges that he or anybody else on Fox "represents an arm of the Right," insisting: "Nobody tells me what to say or who to go after." No argument there. It would be a real stretch to imagine O'Reilly sitting still for anybody trying to set his agenda.
But moments earlier, O'Reilly said he believes a dozen L.A. Times reporters had been ordered to "get" Schwarzenegger. Not to investigate various charges, but to dig up dirt on the guy in the interest of scuttling his candidacy.
What makes such a conspiracy any more plausible on the Left than the Right? Why would such an ideological agenda make any more sense at the L.A. Times than Fox News?
Along with lots of other reasons (anonymous sources, sloppy reporting, etc.), it's clear that the suspicion -- even the presumption -- of ideological bias is becoming a growing challenge to journalistic credibility. On both sides of the fence.
I'm just a media consumer, not a journalist or media producer.
The LA Times stories on Arnold gave the appearance of the Times working as a supporter for Davis.
For me, it was 2 basic reasons: 1.) Timing 2.) The fact they rejected an article about Davis' problem with anger.
Had I lived in California, I may have cancelled my subsription to the Times as well. Hasn't as much to do with Arnold as to
feeling betrayed by the LA Times. I expect the media to *try* and be unbiased. The LA Times didn't even try.
I'm not a Democrat or Republican, I'm an Independant. I dislike and like both equally, depends on issues. I don't like papers
that seem to be cheerleaders for either party. I want the good, bad, and ugly of all reported.
Posted by: Chris Josephson | October 08, 2003 at 08:42 AM