New York Times hires yet another conservative columnist

Another day, yet another conservative talking head hired by the New York Times: Ross Douthat.

I hate to bellyache, but I have to: Douthat is 6 years younger than me, yet already he gets hired by the largest paper in America. I've been in the opinion business much longer than he has, yet he gets his diatribes printed in major papers simply because of politics.

If there was any doubt at all that the media has a right-wing bias, this should dash those doubts. All a conservative has to do to get a major writing gig is scribble down some garbledygoop, and they're hired.

They don't have to think. They don't have to use logic. They just have to say something, no matter how little sense it makes.

Every day, we see stories about the decline of newspapers. It seems like papers go out of business faster than remaining papers can report it. I don't think the rise of the Internet is the only factor. If it was, papers wouldn't be slashing their online activities too, and more papers would be continuing as online publications.

I think the media's right-wing bias is just as big of a factor. I stopped buying the print edition of the Cincinnati Post precisely because of its one-sided coverage. (This occurred even before the print paper was discontinued.)

Right-wing bias continues to plague the local media. An article appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer today hyping this Sunday's Tea Party mockery - and it failed to even mention the fact that the event was secretly bankrolled by corporate interests. Then again, this is the Enquirer, which has long supported corporate causes and opposed organized labor. The more important point is that this bias certainly isn't endearing to readers.

If the print media was the watchdog for the public that it should be, it could have certainly grown its online operations instead of withering and dying. There should be a strong market for competing online papers in every American city.

(Source: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--newyorktimes-newc0311mar11,0,2729692.story)