Take your liberal bias and shove it

Daniel Okrent, public editor for the New York Times, dares to say the paper has a liberal worldview--if not a liberal bias--in his weekly column. Okrent, who was hired in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal, has apparently made few friends in the Old Gray Lady's newsroom because of his uncompromising criticism of many of the Times'--and journalism's--basic tenets. Okrent notes that the Times' editors say their outlook is "urban", but as Okrent notes, half of their readership these days comes from outside New York City, and much of the what they publish--from accounts of avant garde fashion shows to gay marriage announcements--doesn't cut it in the heartland.

On the other side of the media spectrum, my former colleague and Trib op-ed editor Colin McNickle finds himself the subject of national headlines after would-be first lady Teresa Heinz Kerry tells him to "shove it" following a speech she gave in the run-up to the Democratic National Convention. Say what you want about Colin and the Trib's conservative editorial page, as video of the event shows, Colin was just doing his job--though knowing Colin, I suspect he's the happiest man on the planet right now.

By the way, Colin is keeping a blog while he's at the convention.