Media bias: Is it real? Does it matter?

As I promised, a few thoughts on media bias. I think whether you can see it or not depends largely on which side of the aisle you sit on. Now, I'm coming at this from a conservative point of view -- which may prompt a few responses along the lines of "Physician, heal thyself." But then, everyone expects blogs, especially blogs run by a single person, to be partisan. Which, of course, raises a question that I've already seen raised a time or two: Can blogs be considered journalism, or are they always editorials/analyses/propaganda (take your pick of terms)? And another question: If the latter, is it justifiable to get the majority of one's news from them?

But that brings us back to my original question. If the mainstream media is biased anyway -- and I think the case of the CBS and ABC memos (with a little work, that might make a good mystery title), as well as the way the network in the first case handled the whole affair, makes a strong argument that it is -- why NOT get your news from an openly partisan source -- as long as you're sure that the partisan source is accurate? That, I think, is the most important point here, and the one that most often gets overlooked. When I go to certain conservative blogs, for instance, I think they take a reasoned approach, and I've seen them report accurately on major stories. Then there are certain others I know I can't trust.

C. S. Lewis -- a man I consider a mentor, even though he died twelve years before I was born -- tells the story in Surprised by Joy of his tutor, a man who, "born a little later . . . would have been a Logical Positivist." This part made a particular impression on me:

"When a very dignified neighbor, in the course of a Sunday call, observed with an air of finality, 'Well, well, Mr. Kirkpatrick, it takes all sorts to make a world. You are a Liberal and I am a Conservative; we naturally look at the facts from different angles,' Kirk replied, 'What do you mean? Are you asking me to picture Liberals and Conservatives playing peep-bo at a rectangular Fact from opposite sides of a table?'"

Above all else, Lewis tells us, Mr. Kirkpatrick desired facts. Yet that desire did not prevent him from taking a certain position, based on the facts that he saw. His Fact on the table is, I think, something to keep in mind as we ponder who to trust, whether bias makes a difference, and what kind of difference it makes.

More later.