In defence of the liberal press

It's been a while since I linked to a Slate article, and considering my addiction to the site I'm pretty proud that I've resisted scratching that itch. No more, though. Jack Shafer, Slate's media critic, posted an excellent piece today that addresses the so-called "liberal bias" in the mainstream media. Shafer doesn't try to argue that journalists, as a group, tilt overwhelmingly to the left. Instead, he explains why this is so, and why, despite the angry bleating of conservatives, the personal politics of reporters and editors probably don't mean that much when it comes to actual coverage. It's worth noting that Shafer is no liberal himself. He's a crusty individualist who's voted Libertarian in every election since 1972. 

That crusty individualism reveals itself in almost every one of his columns - he's usually hilarious and carves through bullshit like a hot knife through butter (only he doesn't use that kind of shopworn cliche). He's the kind of journalist I aspire to be, and in fact one of my more cherished professional memories was a very brief phone and email correspondence with him more than three years ago, when I was researching a story pitch for my final year of J-school. The story never got out of the idea stage, and Shafer was as gruff and crusty as his copy advertised when we spoke, but I'll always appreciate the fact that he bothered to call and write back. He didn't have to.

That's something I keep in mind when I read his often withering media critiques - he hurts us because he cares.