Putting Their Money Where Their Mouths Are
If you haven't already seen it, this well-researched investigative report by MSNBC on political contributions by members of the media is entertaining. The central finding:
MSNBC.com identified 144 journalists who made political contributions from 2004 through the start of the 2008 campaign, according to the public records of the Federal Election Commission. Most of the newsroom checkbooks leaned to the left: 125 journalists gave to Democrats and liberal causes. Only 17 gave to Republicans.
No surprise there, of course. From this sample it appears that the New Yorker may be the most virulent of all publications. For example:
"Probably there should be a rule against it," said New Yorker writer Mark Singer, who wrote the magazine's profile of Howard Dean during the 2004 campaign, then gave $250 to America Coming Together and its get-out-the-vote campaign to defeat President Bush. "But there's a rule against murder. If someone had murdered Hitler — a journalist interviewing him had murdered him — the world would be a better place. I only feel good, as a citizen, about getting rid of George Bush, who has been the most destructive president in my lifetime. I certainly don't regret it."
Of course, as MSNBC notes, the New Yorker has its famous editorial staff to ensure that bias doesn't creep into its pages:
Besides, there's the magazine's famously rigorous editing. The last bulwark against bias’s slipping into The New Yorker is the copy department, whose chief editor, Ann Goldstein, gave $500 in October to MoveOn.org, which campaigns for Democrats and against President Bush. "That's just me as a private citizen," she said. As for whether donations are allowed, Goldstein said she hadn't considered it. "I've never thought of myself as working for a news organization."
I'll second that. What's most interesting in MSNBC's report is the journalists' own words. For example:
The concept of staying off the field of battle was a completely new one to MTV's "Choose or Lose" presidential campaign correspondent in 2000 and 2004. Gideon Yago, whose first appearance on MTV was on the game show "Idiot Savants," gave $200 to Wesley Clark's 2004 presidential campaign, $500 to the Democratic Party, and $500 to America Coming Together. MTV advertised his reports as unbiased."I don't understand. Things that I do as a private citizen?" Yago asked. " I mean, what the f---, man?"
Also:
Guy Raz does work for a news organization.As the Jerusalem correspondent for CNN, he was embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq in June 2004, when he gave $500 to John Kerry.
He didn't supply his occupation or employer to the Kerry campaign, so his donation is listed in federal records with only his name and London address. Now he covers the Pentagon for NPR. Both CNN and NPR forbid political activity.
"I covered international news and European Union stories. I did not cover U.S. news or politics," Raz said in an e-mail to MSNBC.com. When asked how one could define U.S. news so it excludes the U.S. war in Iraq, Raz didn't reply.
Many news organizations are now banning or discouraging political contributions by their staffs, lest, as the New York Times puts it, "a false impression that the paper is taking sides" be created. It appears that what mostly drives the new policies is the ease with which political donations can be researched on the internet. No doubt MSNBC's piece, now linked by Drudge, will create more "false impressions" and lead more news organizations to tighten their standards.
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