Confessions of a Liberal Puritan

There was an interesting segment on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer tonight about political bias - in news, late night talk shows (Leno et al). They weren't looking into whether the speaker were liberal or conservative, but rather at unfounded assumptions that make their way into the zeitgeist.

So many "credible" sources have said, eg. that Cheney is the puppet master or Kerry is a waffler that reporters report it as fact, Letterman makes jokes - without anyone having to substantiate. It's the political version of urban legend.

The News Hour looked at how it's playing out on both sides of the political spectrum, among so-called objective journalists as well as columnists and entertainers.

The guest - a media and research specialist of some sort (and politically neutral as far as I could see) - said once Leno's making jokes about it, forget correcting it. It's what people believe.

One of many things I love about the News Hour? It really does try to be objective and show all sides.