XM MLB Chat: Media knows it's a mob but thinks it doesn't matter (Babe Ruth's daughter would disagree)

The brethren in politics live in a bubble as they often do in baseball reporting (for good reason). 'Slate' maintains 'opinion is not bias' and anyone who disagrees is just wrong.

They have 4 mob cohorts to excuse their orientation:

living in "extremely democratic cities on the East and West Coast,"

"young" in age,

friends of people who advise Obama, and finally

the fact that they are "journalists."

If that is not enough, they say nothing can be done about this set of allegiances:

(Slate): "There are obvious reasons why Slate would lean heavily toward Obama:

Most of our staff and contributors live in extremely Democratic cities on the East and West Coast.

(It's worth noting that our lone McCain voter, Deputy Managing Editor Rachael Larimore, lives in Ohio.)

Slate's voters tend to skew young, and all polls show younger voters favoring the Democrat.

Also, a significant number of former Slate contributors...

are now advising Obama.

It's understandable that our affection for them and respect for their views may be accruing to Obama. (He's taking Jason and Austan's advice on the economy? Then he must be pretty smart.)

And, finally,

we are journalists, and,

to quote (former Slate editor Michael) Kinsley:

'No doubt t is true that most journalists vote Democratic, just as most business executives (including most media owners) vote Republican, though neither tendency is as pronounced as their respective critics believe.

This is a natural result of the sort of people who are attracted to various careers....

And there is nothing that can be done to change this disparity,

unless conservative press critics would like to see the media institute a political quota system, favoring conservatives over better-qualified liberals (affirmative action for opponents of affirmative action).

But—for the millionth time!—an opinion is not a bias! The fact that reporters tend to be liberal
says nothing one way or another about their tendency to be biased.
It does suggest that when political bias does creep in, it is more likely to tilt liberal than conservative. But there are so many
other pressures and prejudices built into the news—including occasional overcompensation for fear of appearing biased—
that raw political bias plays a fairly small role. …Of course it is not easy to persuade folks of this, and many will never believe it. No doubt it is easier just to
keep your political opinions secret and imply that you don't have any.
But that absurdity or dishonesty itself undermines your credibility. Or it ought to."*******
(Yes, there are other 'groups' in other walks of life that influence things, but none as great as this. Even mentioning the subject of news peoples' 'fandom' elicits immediate ridicule. One might charge that Republicans and/or conservatives (2 different entities) have their own media groups.
That would be a bad analogy however, as the so-called Republican/media elites are very critical of the Republican ticket. You can read all about it in democrat press and sites). sm
P.S. On the power of mobs, Babe Ruth's daughter:
""I watch baseball all the time," she said. "In New England, you mostly get the Red Sox. You don't get the Yankees' games. You can't live in New England without being a Red Sox fan. I've lived up there for 60-something years.
It's so hard to be a Yankee fan in a country that's all Red Sox.
But I held out until about 10 years ago.""