In the midst of watching the third episode of 24 last night, which was quite enjoyable, I couldn't help notice a promotional for Fox 5 News which involved playing the audio recordings of people calling 911 in the midst of the sniper attacks. Damn. Considering that the snipers have been caught and that there's no newsworthiness to the story it was quite possible the most tawdry thing they've done. Being caught up in the political winds yesterday, I was equally surprised to see Connie Chung on CNN hype the Homeland Security Bill, and bookend it with something about Michael Jackson. I didn't watch the actual part of the show, but unless Michael has died, there's no reason that the biggest legislation in the last fifty years of the federal government should be bookended by the king of pop. No reason at all, even if it had something to do with a baby.

It's times like this that I find comfort in the cold, calculated neutrality of c-span. It doesn't farcically pretend to be objective, like fox news, or equally ludicrously attempt to be professional, like cnn or even worse, the network news stations. Bias is always going to be there...the only way to deal with it is to either cut out commentary (like c-span) or admit the bias and move on (no takers yet!) When journalists pretend to be "objective" they end up hurting neutrality by advancing tired arguments or presenting outright lies as "the other side" in an attempt to remain neutral. If we're headed for a budget disaster, and one side says we are, and the other says we're not, that's not a matter of opinion. Empirically speaking, the facts dictate one conclusion, and to bring up invalid arguments that strain editor's credibility undermines the objectivity the American public thinks is being presented. End rant.