BiasAlert under-covers media bias in the Butte, Montana media
market, so when Best of the Web's James Taranto caught some in the
Montana Standard, I decided to jump on it. On Tuesday, the newspaper,
part of the
Lee chain, announced it would carry
Byron York's column each Tuesday and
introduced York by explaining how he isn't the typical conservative ogre:
York, a staunch conservative, presents his arguments in a thoughtful, measured fashion, rather
than resorting to cheap personal attacks on President Obama and others
in the Democratic Party that seem to be the hallmark of the GOP these
days, said Standard Editor Gerry O'Brien.
Taranto observed in his
September 16 compilation:
“We know and like Byron York and applaud the choice. O'Brien's
editorializing, however, is odd for two reasons. First, does it not
occur to him that he is doing exactly what he faults Republicans for,
namely engaging in gratuitous insults? Second, isn't he worried about
losing readers, some of whom likely are among the group he is
insulting?”
— Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center