News vs. Not News

John Hinderaker at Powerline makes a point that has been made thousands of times before but demands repeating: the MSM are either incompetent or so ideologically focused that they really don't know how the rest of us live.

I believe I read a story not that long ago about the NY Times assigning a reporter to report on what non-liberals were doing. To most in the media, at least half the country resembles some of those maps from centuries ago which had blank spaces for unexplored territory.

The tea party movement continues to gain steam, as anti-tax increase, anti-bailout, anti-ballooning deficit citizens turned out around the country today. Glenn Reynolds, as always, has a roundup with links and photos. I especially liked this reference to Chris Dodd at a rally in Connecticut:

One emerging theme is the absence of press coverage, especially at the national level. For some reason, reporters and editors believe it is not news when thousands of people, all around the country, gather to protest the government's bailouts, trillions in debt, etc. And yet, when a mere forty people turned out in Connecticut for an ACORN-sponsored bus tour of homes owned by AIG executives, there were more media people covering the event than there were people on the bus. So let's see: conservative and libertarian opposition to the government's economic initiatives--not news. Far left opposition to the government's economic initiatives, no matter how few participate--that's news. But of course, not a single person reading this will be surprised.

And of course no mention of these tea parties in the Virginian Pilot. Pravda was a beacon of journalistic truth and technical prowess compared with the Virginian Pilot