Who's Looking Out For You: Is the American Media Corrupt?

In his latest column, Bill O’Reilly thinks it just might be:

While many Americans believe the national press is biased toward the left, a more damning charge is now being debated: Are U.S. media outlets actually corrupt? Those who believe they are point to the cheerleading of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and to the recent reportage on the tea party movement.

When the Founding Fathers granted the press privileges beyond those of everyday citizens, they did so with some trepidation. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, opposites in political thinking, both loathed the early press in America because it often operated irresponsibly; that is, it was not unusual for money to change hands in the production of a news story.

But Jefferson, Adams and their peers understood that the people needed information in order to make informed decisions at the voting booth. Therefore, the greater good was served by allowing a free press in the hope that the honest journalists would outnumber the dishonest ones.

Today, we have a problem in America. Entire news operations are devoting themselves not to reporting events honestly, but to promoting a certain ideology or party.

The Fox News Channel, where I work, has been accused of this. But a study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs found that FNC’s coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign was tough on both candidates, while most other news networks blatantly favored Obama.

O’Reilly’s comments come largely in the context of the Tea Party movement, a true grass-roots uprising that has taken the media mandarin class by surprise. At first dismissed as a bunch of racist yahoos and rednecks, the media elite in their towers along Manhattan’s Sixth Avenue are finally beginning to wise up to the fact that —

Oh, let Bob Dylan explain it to them:

[youtube sNJ7d52llic nolink]

Now that we’ve got that straight, what do you think? Your thoughts and observations welcome here. Or just hum a few bars and we’ll fake it.