Our First Media Bias Contest Winner!

 

Congratulations to a reader who wishes to remain anonymous for their winning submission. Thanks also to each and every other person who submitted suggestions for the media bias of the week contest. Uniformly they were astute and on the mark. Please keep them coming as we depend on you, our readers, for the success of this contest.

Tom Lyden is an investigatory reporter for local television FOX 9 News. His outright embrace of the discredited former CBS News anchor embodies everything this contest hopes to achieve. I’m gratified that we have such an example as our first winner.

For those who may not know the full back story, Rather was disgraced for his insistence that memos in his possession showed George W. Bush got out of fulfilling his National Guard duty by pulling family strings. The story was a bombshell back in 2004 when 60 Minutes aired it two months before a presidential election. Media trying to select our presidents is nothing new. Naturally, CBS did nothing to authenticate the documents prior to running their story.

The New York Times ran a story in support of the memos with a headline “Memos on Bush are fake but accurate, typist says.” And you thought fake news was a recent development?

John Hinderaker & Scott Johnson put their Powerline blog on the national map by their dogged examination of the type fonts available at the time the memos were purportedly written. In my view, they were responsible for the ultimate debunking of the 60 Minutes story although other outlets picked up on their lead and added to the unravelling of this icon of fake news.

Consequently Lyden’s “love” for Rather tells you all you need to know. Except for one thing: Lyden has done important, solid investigatory work over the years. Twin Cities media could use much more of this, frankly. It’s disappointing to me that he can’t keep his reflexively, brain dead liberal politics to himself; airing them on Twitter only hurts himself.

But it also allowed us to launch the Alpha News Media Bias of the Week Contest with a bang. So thanks Tom!

To enter the contest, click on the banner and follow the instructions for submission. You must enter by each Wednesday at midnight. The winner gets a $50 Visa gift card to use however they like. We’ll be back next week with another winning submission. And thanks again.

UPDATE: Tom Lyden responds!

No mention of loving a disgraced, discredited and unethical journalist but something of a tirade of moral outrage. Some might call it projection but I admit to having laughed at the last line. Lyden’s a good sport and in this media environment, that’s not nothing.

John Gilmore

John Gilmore is an author, freelance writer & former opinion columnist for Alpha News. He blogs at minnesotaconservatives.org & is @Shabbosgoy on Twitter