David Shuster Lets MSNBC's Bias Show

David Shuster and John Ziegler, who interviewed Gov. Sarah Palin in his latest documentary, got into a shouting match over Palin's qualifications for vice president during a segment on MSNBC this afternoon.



Shuster attack on Ziegler was way out of bounds here. After Zeigler said that MSNBC has been pushing a pro-Obama agenda, Shuster, in a defensive posture, retorts: "Right, as opposed to the agenda of people like you, to boost Sarah Palin, who is clearly unqualified. Most Americans, 65 percent, say she's unqualified. You and your colleagues are trying to circle back and get her ready for 2012."

What Shuster failed to understand was that most documentary filmmakers today do have an agenda. Al Gore won a Nobel Prize for pushing an agenda. Michael Moore has won numerous prizes for pushing his agenda. The difference is that news organizations are not supposed to have agendas. And here Shuster, and the rest of MSNBC falls flat. They are being called on their left-leaning presentation, and being accused of being bias doesn't set well with them. Can you imagine Shuster uttering something like this in an interview with Al Gore:

"Right, as opposed to the agenda of people like you, to boost the global warming theory, which is clearly contested. Half of America says it either doesn't exist or is not a product of manmade interventions. You and your colleagues are trying to circle back and get on the agenda for 2012."

He'd be fired that afternoon. Heck, he wouldn't be able to get a job at FOX, which struggles with the same issues, only on the other end of the spectrum.

The trouble with the mainstream media's reputation with the public is that its leaders do not believe their biases exist. News organizations that are built around one political philosophy often hire executives, reporters and editors who see life through the same prism. They sit in news meetings, discuss stories, come up with the same conclusions, validate each others' political beliefs and run with stories that support their viewpoints while patting themselves on the back to congratulate each other on a job well done. All because they often went to the same universities and have the same political views. Often they do not realize they missed an opposing point. And when they are criticized for it, their defenses go up, just as Shuster's did today, and that's when they look like fools in the viewer's eyes.

Here is Ziegler's clip on Palin that caused the stir. In it, she makes an excellent point on the media's treatment of her family. When Sen. Barack Obama told reporters to stay away from his family, they obliged, no questions asked. To this day, reporters are hounding Palin's family and their troubles with no restraint.

All the Media Loves a Feeding Frenzy

David Folkenflik at NPR offers his thoughts on the media's current feeding frenzy on each other.

He talked to Joe Scarborough about his recent dust up with David Shuster:

"I get frustrated by people who have an obvious partisan bias that don't proclaim that bias," Scarborough told me. "I'm not uncomfortable with a guy like [Sean] Hannity, or [Bill] O'Reilly or [Keith] Olbermann, because anybody tuning in can tell they're not passing themselves off as objective journalists."

Scarborough says a lot of journalists who are registered as independent voters aren't being honest that they often have biases that affect their reporting. I asked him whether he included Shuster in that category, and Scarborough said no.

He also takes on Lou Dobbs at CNN:

Dobbs blasted away any notion of professional comity the night before. "My colleagues in the national media are absolutely biased, in the tank supporting the Obama candidacy while claiming the mantle of objectivity, whether they're on the front page of The Washington Post, New York Times or on any one of the newscasts," he told his viewers on Sunday evening. "I mean, it's ridiculous."

Dobbs, of course, surged to great ratings success in recent years by explicitly abandoning the mantle of anchor objectivity. Interestingly, Obama, on one of his biggest issues — protecting American jobs by maintaining trade barriers — has sounded more sympathetic to Dobbs' positions than has Republican candidate John McCain.

I fear I can already hear Dobbs' new job platform: taking over the Media Circus.

There's more. It's a great read.

Disunity in Denver for MSNBC

And now, lets look at the network that keeps on giving. Over at MSNBC, it sounds like some people have are having problems with the new regime. Now that Keith Olbermann has become the unofficial Director of Content and decides who gets face time, David Shuster felt free to take a whack at Joe Scarborough.



Here, Rachel Maddow hits McCain for playing the "POW Card" while appearing on Jay Leno. When asked by Leno about the houses gaffe, McCain mentioned his service. This is what he said on Leno last night:



Pat Buchanan, in response to Maddow, tries to make a point, but is pushed back by the adoring crowd nearby. (It's almost like being at a Big Ten football game at halftime). Here is the Maddow comment and reaction:



It is rather disturbing that someone might try to use a five-and-a-half-year stint at the Hanoi Hilton as a negative for her party's political opponent. In my book, McCain, and every other POW ever, gets huge praise for their sacrifice.

No, McCain did not give a good answer to his housing gaffe. He'd might have been better off saying that he had a "senior moment," or that he and his wife worked hard to get where they are, and that he wants to create an evironment where every American has the opportunity to succeed in life. McCain does try to put in a rebound during the Leno appearence to say that he wants to work on getting Americans into houses and keeping them in their homes.

But for Maddow to cry about McCain using the "POW Card" is as low as it gets. Does MSNBC really want to spin a former POW's service to our country as a negative? Don't you think that had Sen. Obama been a former POW that he would be using it as a central theme of his campaign as well? And, has Rachel Maddow ever spent a nanosecond in captivity in defense of our country? Does she knows what it's like to be separated from her family, tortured, and in doubt of whether she would survive such an ordeal? Her only qualification in this debate is that she is a favorite of MSNBC's new Director of Content.

Finally, here's this golden nugget. While Joe Scarborough, who really has had a tough 24 hours, talks about McCain's recent strength in the polls, Keith Olbermann, apparently thinking he is off the microphone, comments, "Jesus, Joe, why don't you get a shovel?"



Memo to Joe: Watch your back at MSNBC. Don't tick off the Director of Content, and start promoting the network/party line or you'll join Dan Abrams in some corner office in the basement.