Veteran Journalist Says Media Bias in “Eye of the Beholder”



by Allie Martin and Bill Fancher

(AgapePress) – The woman who is called “the dean of the White House reporters” says those who work for the national television are not biased — but Helen Thomas is quick to give her opinion of President George W. Bush.

Helen Thomas, who has covered every President since John F. Kennedy, says television has brought about the biggest change in how the news is reported. She also says her colleagues in Washington do not play favorites to either the liberals or conservatives.

“I think that we all search for the truth, and I think the bias is in the minds of the viewers and the readers who … have a different opinion [than what they are reading] and say 'Oh, they're obviously wrong and they're obviously slanted,'” Thomas says. “Read everything, get everybody's point of view — this is a free country. That's what democracy is all about.”

But Thomas does not hesitate to give her assessment of the current President. “He certainly has shown his conservatism. I'm waiting for the compassion,” she says.

Thomas was interviewed over the weekend at the Mississippi University for Women in Columbus, where she was presented with an honorary doctorate during graduation ceremonies.

Other journalists disagree with what the seasoned White House correspondent has to say on media bias. Wall Street Journal editor John Fund says claims by the national media that it is objective in its reporting are laughable. He maintains objectivity is impossible to obtain, and says he would rather see some simple rules adopted by all reporters.

“If you interview a conservative, you should interview a liberal. If you interview a secularist, you should a believer,” Fund says. “There can be fairness, but there cannot be objectivity.”

Fund says the way stories are reported, the words that are used, the way paragraphs are written, and the “tone” of the story will reflect the views of the reporter, no matter how hard the reporter tries to mask them.

National radio talk show host Janet Parshall says the left-wing bias of reporters is the reason why society is confused on many issues today. “One would presume that the press would be reporting 'just the facts, ma'am, just the facts.' That's not what happens,” Parshall says. “What we're getting is 'just opinion, ma'am, just opinion.' And therein lies part of the problem.”

Parshall says people who stretch the truth in order to bolster their position begin to accept those lies as fact because no one wants to be proven wrong.


(This update courtesy of Agape Press.)

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