In a piece on whether journalists should make political contributions, the Strib's Neil Justin sounds a common-sense call for greater diversity in the newsroom:
But instead of curtailing journalists' freedoms, we'd be better off increasing diversity in the newsroom. That means encouraging more young conservatives to join the profession, to be active members in the newsroom, to have their voices heard when important decisions are made. If as many journalists attended an antiabortion rally as an abortion-rights one, it'd be harder to accuse the media of bias.
Bingo. Instead of trying pretend that journalists aren't partisan, why not work toward correcting the roughly 9 to 1 imbalance that currently exists in the media?
On the subject of the pretense of objectivity, Justin includes this knee-slapper from straight-down-the-middle Don Shelby:
"Under no circumstances is it ever right for a journalist to make a contribution to any politician, ever. As soon as you do, you have taken a side and you begin pulling for that person. You're going to try to do whatever for your party to win. For the longest time, I argued that we shouldn't vote, but I changed my mind in recent years after getting mad at the fact that not enough people were voting."
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