BIAS IN BROADCASTING, HOW IT WORKS
FoxNews has just hired Chris Wallace to anchor Fox News Sunday. Chris says that he previously thought Fox News had a "right-wing agenda", saying "I'm a straight-newsman -- I plead guilty." Translation, traditional industry journalists believe that Fox News has a conservative bias by the mere fact that they are with traditional news outlets. To the left, the middle does appear to be on the right.

But Wallace watched FoxNews and found out that his prejudgment, or bias, against the Fox News Channel was unfounded. "Its reporting is serious, thoughtful and evenhanded. . . . If they wanted someone to push a political agenda, they wouldn't have hired me." OK, maybe he still thinks Fox News is biased and he's just putting the best light on things because he gets his own show, which he takes over from Tony Snow, "who is stepping down as host of the Sunday show, had been a conservative columnist and worked for President George H.W. Bush" -- says Howard Kurtz. This would have been a good time to remind readers that Wallace's Sunday morning competitors, George Stephanopolous and Tim Russert, used to work for Democrats (Clinton and Moynihan), and Bob Sheiffer, who wrote a book entitled The Acting President: Ronald Reagan and the Men Who Helped Him Create the Illusion That Held America Spellbound. But alas.

So, why did Wallace decide to take over Fox News Sunday? "[O]ne thing that intrigued me was the idea of having my own broadcast. There's something exciting about having your own show that you can put your own signature on . . . to help set the agenda for what people are talking about at the dinner table." This is what all hosts do, and their "signature" that helps "set the agenda" is informed by their own personal values, beliefs and, yes, biases. So, Russert and Stephanopolous will highlight issues that interest them, which may be different than what interested Tony Snow. With time, we will see what issues Chris Wallace wants us to discuss at the dinner table.