When former CBS News correspondent Lara Logan blasted the mainstream media last week, saying too many journalists are now “political activists” carrying out a liberal agenda, she got plenty of attention from both the left and right. Conservatives applauded Logan for her honesty about media bias, while many on the left were angry that she would insinuate any bias among journalists at all.
On Tuesday, Logan elaborated on this problem in an op-ed for the New York Post, “Political bias is destroying people’s faith in journalism.“
“There is nothing more human than opinions and bias. To say we have none is dishonest,” Logan writes. But “Journalists are not activists,” she observes. “We may share the passion for a particular cause, but our job is to follow the facts wherever they may lead.”
“Let’s Start By Being Honest About Who We Are”
Lara Logan with an important essay on political bias ruining journalism.
Here’s my own article showing the incredible recent bias of @MSNBC & @thedailybeasthttps://t.co/sl1rn8NQDk https://t.co/AslztjezKy
— Steve Cortes (@CortesSteve) February 27, 2019
Logan did not hesitate to point out the media’s left bias.
“It is a fact that the vast majority of journalists in this country are registered Democrats. The colleges we come from are similarly dominated by one political ideology. This matters today because the reporting has become so one-sided. As we try to figure out why people have lost faith in our profession, let’s start by being honest about who we are.”
“I would feel the same way if the media were tilted in the opposite direction,” Logan added. “It is the one-sided nature of this fight that disturbs me.”
When Logan made her original criticisms last week, she said she was targeted by figures on the left. “I know they’re going to come after me,” she worried.
Lara Logan says media standards have led to 'horses–t' reporting https://t.co/5mUXZugQNQ pic.twitter.com/NyZW3TQz0t
— New York Post (@nypost) February 19, 2019
Double Standard
In her New York Post op-ed, Logan dissected how liberal news outlets are never held to the same standard as conservative outlets in the mainstream press.
“We dismiss conservative media outlets for their political bias, but we don’t hold liberal media outlets to the same standard,” Logan noted. “Many journalists who claim to be objective have publicly taken a political stand, saying the urgency of the time justifies a departure from journalistic standards.”
“Yet they ask us to believe their reporting is still unbiased?” Logan asked.
What makes Logan’s admission so interesting is that she comes from the world of elite journalism that always brushes off criticism from conservatives, claiming they just have a political agenda. Logan is essentially validating this longstanding gripe of the Right.
And she knows that comes with some dangers. “I will be attacked for writing these words. But I welcome these attacks because it tells me my words matter,” Logan admitted in her op-ed. “And I speak on behalf of all journalists who believe in standing up for the truth and honest, independent reporting.”
“Most do not feel free to speak publicly,” Logan notes. “We live in a free country yet as journalists we are not free.”
Hopefully, Lara Logan speaking out might lift the media veil further, making American journalism at least somewhat freer than it was before.
Do you feel like Lara Logan committed “professional suicide” for her views of the left leaning media that she shared during my interview with her? Or are you happy she came out swinging and expressed herself?https://t.co/FBkz0ciSir pic.twitter.com/jhjDqHtzwo
— Mike Ritland (@MRitland) February 19, 2019
SF Source The Political Insider Feb 2019