July 04, 2014 05:12 PM UTC

KOA's Rosen says he'd be "fair" if he moderated a Hickenlooper-Beauprez debate

•  
• by: Jason Salzman

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

CORRECTION: This post incorrectly states that most journalists consider themselves Democrats. Over half of journalists in a recent survey self-identify as having no party affiliation. About 7 percent said they were Republicans, and 28 percent Democrats. My point about Rosen is unchanged.
—–
From: Jason Salzman
To: [KOA Radio Host] Mike Rosen
Subject: question for my blog

Hi Mike –

I hope all’s well.

I noticed you told Bob Beauprez the other day that you’re hoping to moderate a debate between him and Hick.

You said, “By the way, even though I’m a partisan Republican, I’ve moderated these debates before, and I can set that aside and be fair in a head-to-head debate.”

How does this square with your belief that journalism is biased toward the Democrats because more reporters are registered Dems?

Thanks for considering a response.

From: Mike Rosen
To: Jason
Subject: RE: question for my blog

Moderating a debate is different from reporting. I’m not a reporter. I admit my bias when doing commentary and set it aside when I moderate a debate. Too many liberal “reporters” don’t admit their bias (some may not even recognize it) but infuse it either intentionally or unintentionally in their news stories or so-called analysis.

From: Jason Salzman
To: Mike Rosen
Subject: RE: question for my blog

Thanks.

A moderator of a debate tries to be fair, just like a reporter does. Why can’t a reporter, who is a registered Democrat, also set aside his or her bias, like a moderator of a debate?

Are you saying that if reporters were to state party affiliation in public, like you do, then they would be more likely to be fair?

From: Mike Rosen
To: Jason Salzman
Subject: RE: question for my blog

No, I’m not saying that stating one’s party affiliation would make them more likely to be fair. Certainly, a reporter can be fair in a news story. Some are. Too many aren’t. They either don’t try or do try and fail. We’re all subject to our perspectives formed by our perceptions, our values, our ideology, our knowledge or our ignorance. The dominant liberal culture in newspapers like the NY Times, magazines like Time or broadcast media like NBC CBS, CNN, NPR, or PBS cultivates liberal bias in their editing and reporting. Some of those liberals don’t think of themselves as liberals, others are consciously engaged in advocacy journalism in order to affect policy as they see it. (That’s OK for opinion journalists but not for reporters claiming fairness). There’s a conservative culture at FOX, but its audience is a small fraction of the others.

I’m not opposed to civil unions or same-sex marriage but I can observe that The Denver Post doesn’t just report on it but cheerleads for it on its news pages. The theory that human activity is a dominant cause of global warming is another widespread example of liberal advocacy journalism from news organs. The science isn’t “settled.” Science never is.

That’s an actual exchange from last week between me and Rosen, in case you were wondering if it were real. Bottom line for Rosen seems to be that newsrooms need more Mike Rosens, or at least more conservatives. But this might not do the trick either.

Rosen has Hick and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock on his show every month, and he’s reasonable with them, as he’s been with other Dems over the years. Hence, they keep coming back on his show.

But a lot is at stake in a debate, an you wonder, given what Rosen wrote above, would Rosen-the-Moderator ask about same-sex marriage at all?

If Rosen-the-Moderator were in charge, and Beauprez said, as he wrote in his book, that climate change is “at best a grossly overhyped issue and at worst a complete hoax foisted on most of the world,” would Rosen challenge him, like an professional-journalist moderator, and ask for his evidence that climate change could possibly be a complete hoax?

I don’t think so.