Columbia Journalism Review: "There are very few good conservative reporters"
The Columbia Journalism Review has an interesting piece up on how "Journalism Should Own its Liberalism." There's much I agree with–particularly the notion that traditional-media reporters should disclose, rather than smother, their political/ideological leanings–and there's much I disagree with, starting with the impotent idea that "Glenn Beck, FOX, and a couple of conservative video reporters have, in effect, forced the editors and ombudsmen at two of the nation's leading newspapers, the Times and The Washington Post, to assume a full-scale defensive posture regarding charges of liberal bias." There's also a meaty chunk in the middle you might find of interest that documents the liberal leaning of newspapers.
The excerpt I'm interested in highlighting, just to get some counter-nominations (or affirmations) going in the comments, is the final paragraph:
Although it is the subject for another essay, the fact is that there are very few good conservative reporters. There are many intellectually impressive conservative advocates and opinion leaders, but the ideology does not seem to make for good journalists. In contrast, any examination of the nation's top reporters over the past half-century would show that, in the main, liberals do make good journalists in the tradition of objective news coverage. The liberal tilt of the mainstream media is, in this view, a strength, but one that in recent years, amid liberal-bias controversies, has been mismanaged.
Who are your favorite conservative reporters, if any?
Link via the Twitter feed of journalism professor Jay Rosen, who adds "conservatives should admit: they don't make good journalists," and "the reason there isn't more of them in newsrooms is: they're wimps."
