Bozell Comments Lead Fox News Watch: Press Should be Ashamed of Campaign Coverage

Fox News Watch led this week's show with Brent Bozell's condemnation of the press' coverage of the just-concluded congressional campaign. Host Eric Burns noted that Bozell is "head of an influential conservative media watchdog group called the Media Research Center" - which also happens to be the parent organization of NewsBusters.

FNW played a video clip of Bozell stating:

"In 25 years of looking at the national media I have never in my life seen a more one-sided, distorted, vicious presentation of news and non-news by the national press. The national press ought to be collectively ashamed of itself. They might as well take up membership in the Democratic national party. They were the simple microphones for the party. They need to be ashamed of themselves for what they did."

Jim Pinkerton, the conservative commentator whose columns appear at Newsday and TCS, cited chapter and verse in support of Bozell's assertion:

"Maybe he was thinking of the data from Robert Lichter who said that the media bias was 6-1 liberal. Maybe he was thinking of Tom Edsall [former senior WaPo political reporter] who told Hugh Hewitt that the reporters run from 15:1 to 25:1 Democratic. Maybe he was thinking of Debra Howell, the ombudswoman for the Washington Post who said "most of the reporters and editors I know are liberal on social issues." Maybe he was thinking of Tom Rosenstiel of the Project for Excellence in Journalism who said there is a lot liberal bias."

Continued Pinkerton: "Maybe he was thinking of [CNN's] Jack Cafferty who when gas prices were falling before the election said it was a Republican plot and then Dan Lothian for the same network on CNN said when gas prices were falling it was part of the economic recovery now that Democrats have won the midterm election."

Liberal panelist Jane Hall tried to counter by citing Sean Hannity, whom she described as "constantly [repeating] Republican spin points." But Hannity is of course open about his partisanship and is fairly balanced by Alan Colmes. Bozell's criticism was surely aimed at the MSM's Dem spin passed off as objective "news" reporting.

Hall's fellow liberal Ellis Henican weighed in, claiming Bozell makes similar claims about media bias "every day of the week." Riposted Cal Thomas: "he's right!"

Liberals love to laud "speaking truth to power." On that basis Bozell deserves praise for having made his remarks in the very belly of the MSM beast: the National Press Club in Washington, DC.