No Spin, Indeed

A couple of days ago, Bill O'Reilly made two statements regarding newspapers, and in a classic example of post hoc, ergo propter hoc, implied that liberalism was causing the downfall of major U.S. newspapers. His statements, detailing some of the major U.S. newspapers whose editorial staffs were controlled by "extreme liberals", and those same papers' dwindling subscriptions, while almost certainly correct, fail to support his conclusion. Just because both are true does not mean that one is the cause of the other, and Bill O'Reilly is a smart enough man to know that.

Let's look at this objectively. Newspapers have been a primary source of news in the United States since the beginning of our country. Only in recent history has objectivity even been a concern of papers. In the late 1700's newspapers were used to spread propoganda for or against Colonial separation from England. The papers reflected the opinions of the ownership of the individual papers. Papers did not have the widespread distribution then that they have today, so the availibility of differing viewpoints was fairly limited. In the more recent past, the publishing industry has been forced to present a much more balanced format in order to survive. People will buy those papers that present what the people want to see. If people are concerned with the liberal nature of The New York Times, they can always purchase The Wall Street Journal. In this way, papers are held accountable more today than ever.

More recently, new media sources are displacing newspapers. People have been getting their news from television for several years now. Over the last decade, more and more people are getting their news from the internet. It is the competing sources of news that has resulted in the decline of newspapers' circulations. Over the last several decades, newspapers are more objective than ever before. Liberal editorial staffs have nothing to do with dwindling readership of newspapers, but that doesn't support the agenda of Bill O'Reilly. So much for the "No Spin Zone."