Why Won't They Tell Us?

Week in and week out Hugh Hewitt has MSM types on his program and he asks them about their political views. And week after week they refuse to tell him.

Look, said Hewitt today to Mark Halperin, author with John F. Harris of The Way To Win: Taking The White House In 2008, “let’s get our plumb lines down...
Did you vote for Kerry or Bush last time around?” Blah, blah, blah, responds Halperin:

So I don’t discuss my political views. I don’t discuss — I will say, somewhat controversial in the minds of some, I don’t vote, because I think that just opens up the question of how can I say I’m being objective, and fighting for truth, if I’m making a decision about who to vote for in a presidential race.

Later on Hewitt returns to the fray, getting Halperin to agree that it would be improper for a journalist to report on a business in which he had an investment. Then what is different about reporting on an issue in which you are “invested?”

I work very hard to take whatever beliefs I have, and bend over backwards to make sure that no one is treated unfairly by coverage that I impact.

Of course, and so would any man. But the reason we have conflict of interest rules in reporting on business is that, where money is concerned, you can’t be too careful.

If journalism is as important as we are led to believe, then surely we can’t be too careful about the appearance of fairness.

If a newspaper covered global warming, for instance, we would want to know that they had a balanced team working on the project. So that the enthusiasm of one member would be checked and balanced by an opposing enthusiasm.

So how can we trust journalists if they won’t tell us about their political “enthusiasms?”