I’m Shocked, Shocked To Find Liberal Bias At This Major Journalism Conference

[Geee]

The Federalist:

In June, I had the honor of attending one of the top journalism conferences in the country, if not the world. For three days, I rubbed shoulders with reporters from places such as The New York Times, USA Today, and ProPublica.

Call me naïve, but I expected to learn about fairness, integrity, and hard work. This means giving equal weight to politically divisive issues such as gun rights, women’s health, and policing. Instead, during some training sessions I watched top professionals in their fields encouraging political bias against conservatives before reporters’ pens could even hit paper.

 

Bias at a lefty news organization would be expected, and the same for those on the Right. (For full transparency, I am employed at a news organization that is openly affiliated with the conservative Heritage Foundation.) But to preach political bias at a conference that represents the gold standard in journalism is alarming, and is something that we, as journalists, have a duty to address.

 

The purpose of the 2016 Investigative Reporters and Editors conference was to share investigative journalism tips and tricks from one reporter to another. The concept behind the conference is selfless: fellow journalists openly share their most successful secrets so we competitors in the field can come together for the greater cause. Attendees could choose from more than 100 sessions with hundreds of speakers representing a diversity of topics.

 

To be clear, only a select few appeared politically charged. But those that were reflect a dangerous outlook for the future of journalism, and it’s time they were called out.

 

Two panels in particular caught my attention. The first was called “How to investigate the war on women’s health.”