Media, by ass

Yet another example of how I am so far out of the loop that I don't even know where the loop is:

Most Americans don't read political blogs.

One of the more surprising and counterintuitive observations of that piece: "The generation most likely to read such blogs are those age 63 or older." (Although something about these numbers in general seems misleading -- perhaps it's the absence of context.)

I was also surprised to learn that "blogs often adopt a specific point of view," and that that is what makes them different from "traditional, mainstream media."

Woah!

Maybe I'm crazy, but I think it is very rare indeed to find a media source (mainstream or otherwise) that attains the much-touted ideal of journalistic objectivity. C-SPAN comes pretty close, at least in terms of its framing device (low-key, evasive hosts, minimal graphics, inoffensive music, a let-everyone-get-their-say-and-then-we-move-on approach). But even there, bias inevitably (if unintentionally) creeps in -- as evidenced by a comment at this post on Greta Wodele:

I have awakened many mornings to check C-SPAN's Washington Journal, and if it's Greta, I don't care what the topic or who the guest is, I'll watch in amazement for a while.

So if you're liberal, and the guest is Karl Rove, do you suddenly find yourself less angry at his stupidity just because Ms. Rodele is hosting? Yikes.

Code can be objective. Words, images, sounds? Not so much.