Does this sound like deja vu all over again?q

[buycitgo]

“Somewhere along the line,” said Mark Halperin, ABC’s political director, “the dominant political reporters for most dominant news organizations decided they didn’t like him, and they thought the story line on any given day was about his being a phony or a liar or a waffler. Within the subculture of political reporting, there was almost peer pressure not to say something neutral, let alone nice, about his ideas, his political skills, his motivations.”

The open hostility toward Gore and Clinton – often over manufactured or exaggerated offenses – was only possible within the context of mainstream journalists trying to disprove the "liberal media" accusation. To do so, reporters either followed the lead of the conservative media or struck out on their own to get ahead of the curve in bashing leading Democrats.

In the framework of this media dynamic, it made every bit of sense for journalists to adopt a pugnacious anti-liberal ‘tude. For their careers, it was all upside and no downside. They protected themselves from potent conservative media "watchdog" groups, while opening up potentially lucrative career opportunities from top-level news executives who already disliked Clinton and Gore.

For Democrats and liberals, however, the political message should be clear: only by countering the powerful conservative media machine can they hope to change this dynamic. There is no reason to believe that simply complaining about the situation will do much to alter the behavior of the national press corps.

On the other hand, for Republicans and conservatives, the secret to their continued success will be, in part, to keep the “myth of the liberal media” alive.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/Print/123102a.html
long piece from the ineffable Roberrt Parry

the more things change.......

[glitch]

1. Parry rules

off to read it, thanks for posting!

Edited to say: hey, this is from last year! Still worth a re-read.