Perspective is Everything

I read with amazement Burt Quick’s objection to Stuart Snow’s observation that opinions expressed in the Observer are biased toward the right. But I was not amazed at the tactics used; they were very typical right wing tactics. First, you change the subject. Mr. not-so-Quick stated that Mr. Snow is “…obviously unaware of the media coverage throughout our area and the nation.” Hello!!! He was talking about THE OBSERVER! What does other media coverage have to do with it? Second, you launch a personal attack. Here I was disappointed because the personal attack was very weak. “Obviously uninformed”. Is that the best you could do? Surely a Rush Limbaugh fan like you can do better than that! Mr. Quick used the word obviously three times in a matter of four sentences. He should brush up on his vocabulary. Obviously!

And of course that horrible monster the “liberal media” had to be referenced. That along with the “war on Christmas” and the “war on marriage” are myths created by the right to scare everyone into thinking they’re being attacked on all sides by the immoral crazies called LIBERALS! Yikes, lock up your children! Puhleeeaase! CNN liberal? Lou Dobbs? Glen Beck? Give me a break. Face it, perspective is everything when watching, or listening, to a “news” show and I use the term news loosely because much of what is on should be classified as “infotainment”. The right has done a much better job of making their shows entertaining which is why the right seems to own the radio waves. Just try to find a liberal or even progressive talk show on Houston radio. No, wait, don’t waste your time. There aren’t any. The left does seem to have more print sources, however. But when I watch Tim Russert I see someone who is completely unbiased. Those on the right see him as liberal. When I hear Bill O’Reilly I hear nothing but right wing propaganda. The right sees him as “fair and balanced”. If you feel there isn’t a variety of opinions expressed in media today you are probably right and we have media consolidation into the hands of a few huge conglomerates to thank for it.

So, Mr. Quick, let’s agree to disagree. When I see The Observer and the other Houston Community Newspapers print columns by all the republican elected officials (there aren’t any democratic politicians in office in this area) without any kind of editorial commentary I consider it poor journalism. I think journalism is a necessary part of democracy. Their job is to put our elected officials’ proverbial feet to the fire. Otherwise, how are the voters ever going to get both sides of an issue. The only other political columnists published by HCN are the likes of Bill O’Reilly, Michelle Malkin, John Stossel, and Mona Charen. In my view, all very right wing.

But, I trust they will print this letter in which case they are doing their job to present opposing views and I thank them for that. I encourage everyone to use small, independent media sources to get a variety of views on the news.