The hard-lefties at Fairness and Accuracy in Revolution, I mean Reporting (FAIR) have a new media advisory on Keith Olbermann's assertion to Al Franken that MSNBC brass complained that he had too many liberal guests. This was too much to bear for people still mourning the loss of the Donahue show on MSNBC. But -- get a load! -- FAIR then suggests its hero Olbermann DOESN'T count as a liberal on MSNBC! And neither does Chris Matthews:
If MSNBC management were genuinely worried about ideological balance, then the fact that the channel currently has two one-hour programs hosted by well-known conservatives (Tucker Carlson and Joe Scarborough) and none hosted by liberals would be of considerable concern. Or MSNBC could fret over Hardball's right-leaning panel discussion after a 2004 election debate...or the Hardball "town meeting" on the Iraq war that skewed heavily towards the pro-war side...The group Media Matters for America (10/21/05) recently documented that Hardball's discussions of the Plame Wilson leak case frequently skewed to the right, citing nine examples of panels that included only conservatives, or conservatives "balanced" by centrists; the group found only one case where a panel similarly leaned to the left.
FAIR must be referring to this report, dated 10/22. It has the same liberal tactic as FAIR: Howard Fineman and other reporters must not be liberals, because after all, they are reporters. But a reporter for the Weekly Standard is certainly a conservative.
