mediaphobes on the line

the woodruff wounding prompted c-span to ask washington journal's viewers yesterday if the press is making itself too much a part of the iraq story.

a few of the callers took the opportunity to let their outrage fly.

one complained that the wounded tv guys got treated by military medics. others said it was their own fault for riding in the open or for being there at all. one questioned why the iraqis carried them from the scene on a russian tank, since iraq should buy american. there were also complaints about biased coverage.

a woman said even c-span is overly enraptured with the new york times, interviews 4 times as many libs as cons, and takes twice as many calls from dems as from gops because dems call on the independent line.

she's wrong, of course. i see washington times and wall street journal articles read on the show probably about as often as ny times and washington post. the phone calls and guests seem pretty well right-left balanced too.

later in the show a caller wished the ACLU had been "in those buildings" on 9/11 instead of the 3000 that died.

get the picture?