Leftist Newsroom Chatter

This is the culture that Republicans and Mitt Romney are fighting during this election. Off-hand leftist comments in newsrooms are as common as Max Factor in the makeup room. This was just on display for all to hear.

I’ve spent virtually my entire adult life in newsrooms, and what Yahoo! News Washington Bureau Chief David Chalian said is minor compared to some of the leftist political comments I’ve heard. Chalian is now former Chief because he was fired for his comments, but he was also a former ABC News Political Director, so this guy knows his way around.

ABC News was running a live feed of the Republican National Convention and Chalian said the Romney’s were “happy to have a party when black people drown,” referring to the timing of the hurricane and the RNC.

You don’t get more egregiously indicative than this. These are the conversations that take place in newsrooms. These are the people editing the video tape, producing the newscasts, writing the copy and dictating what the public see on evening newscasts. This is what they believe. You can hear it on their broadcasts through their anchors, but rarely do you get this candid snapshot of their mindset.

The comment was met with laughter and was preceded by the statement, “They aren’t concerned at all.” This was happening while video of the Romneys was playing during the live internet feed.

Publicly, the Activist Old Media make similar comments, but usually they provide cover by saying “Polls say Republicans are blah blah blah.” Racist, bigoted, homophobe, not compassionate, don’t connect with voters, or whatever you want to put at the end of that sentence. Clearly it’s what they think in newsrooms, and it is not what Americans think. The polls are used in news stories for cover on what they actually believe. You heard Chalian say it and his friends laugh at it.

I could write a thousand columns on comments like these, and similar comments I heard while in newsrooms over the years. In my newsroom there were people crying out loud and tears shed when George W. Bush was elected in 2000. There were cheers when Al Gore rescinded his resignation. It is the culture. Leftists live and thrive in this environment, and they are rewarded with advancements. Rarely are they held accountable because they know management is on their side.

Of course, ABC News, Yahoo! News and the rest of the Activist Old Media should work to change the culture that harbors leftist bias, but they will not. Chalian has been fired and likely will be hired somewhere else.

The bias is what it is. It’s too deep, too ingrained, and they really don’t want to change. It’s like telling a rattlesnake not to bite. They will cease to exist before they correct the culture.

Follow Ron Futrell on Twitter @RonFutrell

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