Kevin McDonough

Kevin McDonough (photo at right from UFS) can’t seem to avoid inserting liberal commentary into his TV reviews. The syndicated critic on Tuesday wrote about an upcoming PBS documentary on a Chilean judge’s investigation into the government of Augusto Pinochet, and editorialized that "The Judge and the General" "offers a cautionary tale for Americans," since Chile "had a long history of democratic government" before Pinochet’s coup. He continued that the film "begins and ends with scenes of rallies by fanatical supporters of Pinochet, who died in 2006 before facing trial. None of the attitudes expressed by these angry thugs would seem out of place on American talk radio."

McDonough doesn’t explain what exactly these attitudes are, but the implication of his argument is that conservative talk show hosts and their listeners are "angry thugs," that they’re a threat to "democratic government," and that they would install a Pinochet-like regime if they were given a chance.

A liberal bias is always easy to discern in newspaper writers when they tout liberal programs as informative and more conservative programs as deceptive. Take, for example, Kevin McDonough, a TV critic for the United Feature Syndicate (photo from UFS), touted by his bosses as lively and comprehensive in previewing TV seven nights a week with his "witty, insightful and occasionally offbeat approach to TV commentary." On Monday, he began:

Television has many powers. Its ability to distract (VH1), enter tain (“The Office”), inform (“The NewsHour”), deceive (“The O’Reilly Factor”), anger (ditto) and sell (QVC) are well documented.

But the moments when television reaches for the sublime, the beautiful, the poetic and transporting are few indeed.