Three years ago on August 9, 2005 was the first day of NewsBusters.

What a great three years it's been. In the intervening time since our start, we've been featured in every major American newspaper, launched a number of stories into the national news cycle, and had a lot of fun doing it.

We couldn't have done any of this had it not been for the fantastic institution of the Media Research Center that Brent Bozell has succeeded in building. Thanks also are due to MRC vice president Brent Baker who was able to see what NewsBusters could grow into, the first and strongest collaboration between a Washington political group and the blogosphere.

We're also grateful to the many conservative media figures who have promoted this site in their audiences.Thanks in particular to Rush Limbaugh who has stood up as a strong supporter of NewsBusters since day one. We're also grateful to the fair-minded journalists who realize that yes, even a bunch of evil right-wingers might occassionally have a point in our critiques. Thanks also to our fellow members of the blogosphere for being out there on the frontlines of new media reporting the news the MSM won't.

Finally thanks to you our readers. We couldn't have done it without your continued viewership, story tips, and your help in spreading the word about NewsBusters. Together we are making a difference.

I look forward to continuing to do that for many years to come.

Have the broadcast networks gone too far with their obvious infatuation with presumptive Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama?

If the Associated Press is starting to think so, maybe the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz was right on Sunday when he warned "Reliable Sources" viewers that "there could be a big backlash against news organizations if this trend continues."

On the other hand, wouldn't it be nice if the repercussions Kurtz presaged came from other media members similarly disgusted by what is passing for journalism this election cycle?

Consider what the AP's David Bauder had to say about this issue in an article published moments ago with the headline, "Is Media Playing Fair In Campaign Coverage?" (emphasis added throughout, h/t NBer nkviking75):

Quick note: the NB forums are having some issues on the tech side so they are disabled temporarily.

That's coincidental given the huge flamewars we've seen develop on them over people arguing for/against various religions in forum posts. I don't like the divisiveness that we've had from this and am half-way thinking that perhaps we should just not have religion discussions here on NB considering the mission of the site is about media bias, not promoting or attacking various religions (or lack thereof).

Update 07-10 15:47. After giving an amount of time for those interested to comment. I've settled on the policy.

I hope you like it, it's been a work in progress for the past few months.

A few of the new NB's features:

• New look and logo. I went for a cleaner, more open layout that features more whitespace.
• Expandable to your browser width. The bigger your screen, the wider the articles display, and yet it's still fits within smaller resolutions.
• Printer-friendly and email to friend links at the top of every article.
• Easy access to a blogger's archives at the top of every post.
• A new headline box at the top of the page.
• Links for related stories at the bottom of every blog post.
• Handy search box that should decrease the amount of time it takes to find what you're looking for.

Please refrain from calling out other NB posters in the comments and in your forum posts. No matter how much you dislike someone, it is bad form and not something we like seeing.

Due to a bug in Internet Explorer 7, several NB readers have had trouble getting into the site. We're working on the issue. In the mean time, I recommend you download the Mozilla Firefox web browser onto your computer as it does not have the bug.

Update 19:23. The problem should be fixed now. Please post a comment on here if you continue to have troubles with IE 7.

The upgrade has completed successfully. If you're seeing this post, your computer has realized the change to the new NB.

Here's a quick run-down of some of the features:

• The end to automatic logout. Before, the system logged you out after about 15 minutes of inactivity. Now, you must manually log out.
• Pictures in accounts. To make one for yourself, go to "My account," click "Edit," and then scroll down to the "Picture" section. Use the form there to upload a tasteful picture of yourself or something you like.
• Printer friendly pages. A link for a printer-friendly page of just the article is available at the bottom of every full article.

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