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Posts like this one from Jon Henke are why I continue to read The Next Right on a regular basis:

If there is a central problem with journalism, it is the lack of skepticism. Especially as it applies to government. Politicians and political organizations are not held to account for contradictory statements, false predictions and claims.

Why did it take a Washington Post reporter so many years to learn skepticism, and why would he ever discard skepticism?

The Right has convinced itself that the problem is "that liberal media", but that is obstructive rhetoric. Sure, there are a multitude of examples of media bias that favors the Left...but there are also a multitude of examples of media bias that favors the Right. People notice what they expect to see.

This isn't a problem of personal bias; biases are unavoidable and don't fit a left/right matrix, anyway. Ultimately, criticisms of Left/Right bias are tactical attacks against symptoms, not the problem itself. Crying "that liberal media!" delegitimizes our more fundamental criticisms.

The problem isn't a biased media. It is a media that has lost sight of the role of journalism and reporters.

If there is even a question of whether they should be extremely skeptical of political claims, then they aren't really a Fourth Estate at all. They've just become enablers of the Estates to which they are attached.

Addressing this core question of the role of journalism - on a bipartisan basis - should be a goal of the next Right. Government will be healthier and more limited when the media acts as a reality check - a skeptic of power - rather than an enabler of the world's biggest monopoly. That, not "liberal media", is the problem we have to address.

This is exactly precisely right. The perceptions that various media outlets have a "liberal" or "conservative" bias are masking a deeper, much more important truth. Political journalism in the United States is deeply flawed. Its nice to see people on both sides of the aisle beginning to recognize this.

I know absolutely nothing about the group, but if this is any indication of who they are and what they are about, they suck.

Of all the ways this group could have handled Ygelsias' criticism, this has to be the absolute worst possible choice. Getting his employer to hijack his blog and post a detailed "apology" to the group? Are you kidding me? What is this, high school?

If you want a lesson in what not to do with new media, this is it. Prior to this, I'd never heard of the group. Now I know one thing about them, and its very, very, very not good. The apology post calls them "key leaders in the progressive movement." For the sake of the progressive movement, I hope to god that is not even remotely true.

UPDATE: You really have to read the comments section of the post. Hilarious!

Yglesias smacks down the nonsense:

The Secretary of State lived in Arkansas for 26 years, including over ten years as First Lady of that state. The Secretary of Defense lived in Texas for seven years, including time spent as president of Texas A&M University. The Press Secretary is from North Carolina. The "climate czar" is from Florida and spent many years working in Florida politics. And the US Trade Representative is from Texas and served as mayor of a major southern city.

But apparently things like "being from the south" or "living in the south" or "working in the south" or "heading major southern institutions" doesn't count as being a southerner. It's Trent Lott or bust!

Wired's Threat Level:

Dikshit Guilty of Internet Gambling

ThinkProgress highlights a great quote from Glenn Beck, who left his gig at CNN Headline News for a new show at Fox:

I liked being over at CNN. ... I also think they made me a better broadcaster because, believe me, I was the most well-researched show on CNN. They never let me get away with anything. At the time, it was like, come on guys, cut me some slack. But in retrospect...I know what I know because they forced me to document it.

TP runs down a list of major factual errors Beck made while on the air, and although that's important, I think it misses the larger, much more important point.

Beck sees himself as a journalist. CNN saw him as enough of a journalist to give him his own show on Headline News. And yet, based on the quote, it would appear that until other people forced him to do research and check his facts, he hadn't felt it necessary.

Maybe he saw himself as a pundit, and not a journalist, you counter? Unless you believe that pundits shouldn't do research and check facts - or more to the point, unless you think pundits ought to simply be allowed to make stuff up - that doesn't help him in any way.

First the story. AS guest blogger Chris Bodenner reports:

Bush just can't catch a break:

But the exclusive Dallas community the Bush family will soon join has a troubled history of its own. Until 2000, the neighborhood association's covenant said only white people were allowed to live there, though an exception was made for servants.

And his headline? Paging Kanye.