On his radio show yesterday (Thursday, September 21, 2006), host Hugh Hewitt interviewed Thomas B. Edsall, who up until recently was a senior political reporter for the Washington Post. He had been with the paper for 25 years. Through precise and direct questioning by Hewitt, Edsall admitted something that is rarely heard from a liberal these days. In a shocking admission, Edsall articulated that the biases of the mainstream media are "overwhelmingly to the left." He also proposed that Democratic reporters outnumber Republicans "in the range of 15-25 to 1"!

In the interview, as Hewitt and Edsall discussed the rise of conservative talk radio and the biases of the mainstream media, Edsall stated the following:

EDSALL: ... I agree that whatever you want to call it, mainstream media, presents itself as unbiased, when in fact, there are built into it many biases, and they are overwhelmingly to the left.

Hewitt appeared so surprised by the remark that, after a pause, he replied, "Well, that's very candid." Candid, indeed, Hugh!

But, wait. There's more.

On the topic of the political allegiances of "big name political reporters," the following exchange took place:

HEWITT: [Jim Vandehei of the Washington Post] probably is a Republican. But given that number of reporters out there, is it ten to one Democrat to Republican? Twenty to one Democrat to Republican?

EDSALL: It’s probably in the range of 15-25:1 Democrat.

Whoa! The must-read transcript of this eye-opener is at Hugh Hewitt's blog at TownHall.com. Must-hear audio is available here.

In addition to his years at the Washington Post, Edsall has penned pieces for the American Prospect and The New Republic. One of his most recent works is a book called Building Red America: The New Conservative Coalition and the Drive for Permanent Power. It has been billed as a "masterful--and disturbing--work of political journalism that challenges all of us to wake up and take heed before the world has changed beyond recognition."

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Here's more from the exchange in which Edsall admitted the MSM's bias is "overwhelmingly to the left." Again, this is from Hugh Hewitt's blog at TownHall.com:

HEWITT: ... The reason talk radio exploded, followed by Fox News, followed by the center-right blogosphere, is that because folks like you have been the dominant voice in American media for a long time, and you’re a pretty thoroughgoing, Democratic favoring, agenda journalist for the left, and you’ve been the senior political reporter of the Washington Post for a very long time. And people didn’t trust your news product…not you, personally, but the accumulation of you, throughout the L.A. Times, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and they got sick and tired of being spoon fed liberal dross, and they went to the radio when an alternative product came along.

EDSALL: To a certain degree, I agree with that.

HEWITT: And so, why do you think it’s wrong, somehow, for people to want to hear news that they don’t consider as biased? I mean, that’s what it is. It’s just unbiased news is what people wanted. That’s why conservatives like me got platforms, and our blogs get read, and our columns get absorbed.

EDSALL: One, I don’t think it’s unbiased.

HEWITT: It’s transparent at least. Everyone has bias. I agree with that. Everyone’s got bias.

EDSALL: It’s transparent. Okay, that I would agree. And I agree that whatever you want to call it, mainstream media, presents itself as unbiased, when in fact, there are built into it many biases, and they are overwhelmingly to the left.

HEWITT: Well, that’s very candid.

EDSALL: Well…

HEWITT: Have you ever said that…in the course…when you were working for the Post, would you tell people who you voted for, and how liberal you were?

EDSALL: You mean people people?

Have a nice weekend.