Looks Like One Newspaper Is Waking Up

My local paper is the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, often referred to as the NY Times of the south. In an attempt to respond to complaints of media bias they are making a very overt attempt at convincing people that they are ready to change their ways. Recently they held a cattle call for a full time conservative columnist.

In interest of full disclosure I did apply for the opening. I never expected to get the job since I don't have a journalism background, but thought it would be interesting to go through the vetting process and see what kind of feedback I could get. The application was rigorous, well for me anyway, since they asked for examples of investigative reporting you had done as well as asking for samples of your previous writings and at the end they had you write a 5000 word column on a subject they chose.

Well I didn't make the cut, which they have narrowed down to 10 right now with readers encouraged to read what the finalists submitted and vote on. The interesting part was that while I was turned down, they told me my answer to the question what is a conservative was interesting and they may be in contact with me in the future. So it wasn't a total loss.

Anyway they have at least admitted to bias albeit they claim it is in their editorial pages and not so much their news reporting, they are willing to take a look at the perceived problem and address it.

Now … let me discuss the issue that generated the most questions and comments to our publisher. Some readers believe we do a good job of being fair in our coverage and providing a balance of opinions. A few think we’re too conservative. But many more believe that our editorial pages are too liberal and that bias seeps into our news coverage. We have heard you on the bias issue and are taking deliberate steps to address this.

We will see.