Well, Doug, one would think this one story would indicate a liberal bias, but if they are that liberal, why, then, did they agree to the Bush administration's pressure to quash any talk of body counts and suppress any filming of returning coffins (e.g. note the cat-fit they had over the one photo of flag-draped coffins)? The Bush administration was fully aware that actually seeing some of the reality of war on the news media in the Sixties and early Seventies was one of the things that precipitated the anti-Vietnam war movement. The only program that ever actually personalizes the statistics (silently shows portrait photos of the most recent casualties at the end of each program) is The News Hour with Jim Lehrer. This, of course, makes PBS a bunch of "flaming liberals."

I think there is a bit of what seems like schizophrenia in the news departments of the Big Three (ABC, NBC, and CBS), at least as far as politics is concerned. But if you understand the motivation, it all becomes clear (in a murky sort of way). In the "infotainment" industry, if it's an entertaining pot-boiler, it's liable to make the six o'clock news. They did back-flips of glee when the Swift Boat bunch launched their "Trash Kerry" attack. That, and the logical follow up, airing the conflict over Bush's questionable National Guard records (maybe that's their idea of "fair and balanced news), keeps the folks glued to the screen—so they'll see the commercials in between "news" breaks. Political campaigns and the mud-slinging therein is great "reality television." But—not only is the "informed electorate" that Thomas Jefferson spoke of as necessary for sustaining democracy not on the back burner, it's not even on the stove at all.

It's called "bu$ine$$." And in thinking of the next quarterly report, it's amazing how willing they are to do things contrary to their own long-range interests, which would be to see that Bush is re-elected so that people such as Michael Powell will continue to be in charge of the FCC.

Believe me, I could tell you about some pretty hairy stuff from my own experience about how far broadcasting companies are sometimes willing to go to pander to those who buy commercial time.

Don Firth