The Corner

Jim Lehrer, “Flavor of Neutrality”

PBS anchor Jim Lehrer’s pomposity seemed to be on display alongside his attempt to be humorous on last night’s “Colbert Report.” He attempted some humorous lines about “getting rid” of Robert MacNeil and saying PBS doesn’t care about who watches. (Baloney.) He seemed most seriously when proclaiming he was bias-free and bias is what the audience brings to the newscast, not what the journalist brings. Is there anything more tiresome than claiming bias is in the eye of the beholder alone? When Colbert tried to say any journalist brings some flavor to the news, Lehrer insisted, in a serious-sounding (or deadpan?) tone: “But it is a flavor of neutrality.”

Tim GrahamTim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center, where he began in 1989, and has served there with the exception of 2001 and 2002, when served ...
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