Paging Al Franken - Hugh

Paging Al Franken - Hugh Hewitt with a great piece on the Sacramento Bee's capitulation to PC pressure over the SacBee's political reporter Daniel Weintraub.

Weintraub dinged Cruz Bustamante; the California Latino Caucus squawked; the Commissioner picks up the narrative:

"Usually an editor then stands up for the columnist and the paper's independence, citing a long tradition of press vigilance over entrenched political power and the glory of the First Amendment.

Not this time. Keep in mind that Bee big boss Rick Rodriguez is the only Latino to head a major newspaper in the U.S., and that the Latino Caucus is a powerful force in the state. The Bee responded to the criticism by putting its best writer under close watch and by publishing a clipping that can be sent over to the members of the Latino Caucus. The Caucus gets a scalp and the paper sacrifices its integrity. Along the way a promising innovation in journalism gets trimmed.

All because a lefty politician and his pals don't like what a columnist wrote. What was Al Franken saying about right-wing media? And the gents at FAIR? Too bad Weintraub didn't know it is only safe to blast Republicans and their supporters. If he'd played by the standing rules of print journalism, he'd still have the freedom to blog on and make news with every entry. "

It's in his Sunday entry (scroll down if you need to. Note to the Commish - try permalinks!).

The media's not really liberal, is it?

UPDATE: Instapundit has many other links re this story.

UPDATE II: And the Scholars add their own perspective, also well worth a read.

Posted by Mitch at September 22, 2003 05:30 AM