"What liberal media?"

Mollie Hemingway at GetReligion on a study of the political attitudes of reporters:

MSNBC investigative reporter Bill Dedman had an obvious but interesting story looking at political contributions from journalists. He found that reporters gave to Democrats and liberal causes nine times as frequently as Republican or conservative causes:

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. Two gave to both parties.

...Why should reporters check their citizenship at the door? The test of whether this lack of diversity is a problem is not a listing of statistics about who gave what — it’s whether each reporter’s politics affect the quality of their journalism. I have worked with extremely liberal reporters — socialists, basically — who I would trust to report and write any story out there. A good reporter is a good reporter.

The reporters I worry about are the ones like Linda Greenhouse, the New York Times’ superstar Supreme Court reporter who thinks her extremely liberal views are not opinions but facts. I’ve worked with that kind of reporter, too. The arrogance and ignorance implicit in such an approach is what’s wrong with mainstream media. And reporters are insane if they don’t think readers and viewers pick up on that vibe. .... [more]

What liberal media? » GetReligion