Media bias. Springfield News-Leader's Tony Messenger addressed the issue of writers contributing to campaigns. For a political writer this is downright inappropriate, even offensive. The MSNBC article goes a little far. I want to make a distinction between a reporter and pundit. If you write on the editorial page - and your gig is to support partisan politik I do not see a problem with this. Though it may be the most popular style of our day, it's a really horrible way to get news.
This might sound funny to some, but, it's odd not seeing a story I wrote on the front page. Wearing a reporter hat, I believe it's unnecessary to be emotionally uninvolved - if your looking for a strawman - pundits have this covered - you can even expect it. I believe a good reporter to be something different. Choosing a side is a violation of ethics - contributing to side is rubbing dung into the wound.
For this reason, I thought it to be interesting that Gary Groman took the front page with a story from June 11th's Branson Board of Alderman meeting. Groman did a good job sharing the play-by-play, but few would say Groman is an unbiased source. After all, he gets paid to be biased.
I like the way Messenger closed the story off, which only makes sense if you do it right.
"In this business, if you want a friend - get a dog"
