Fox News Says: Liberal Groups Keep Close Watch Dean

What's in a headline you say? Well, let's just take a look here: at the Fox News web site, a headline says Liberal Groups Keep Close Watch on Dean. That's a pretty loaded headline, doncha think? Because you never really know what wild man Dean might be up to. He just might be revving up a Dean Scream, and Lord knows we can't have that!

So I read the story. It begins by talking about a Seattle group which presented Dean with a backbone statue. That statue references Dean helping the Democratic Party find its backbone which has been missing the last many years. Then there's a guy who says that Dean just needs to be Dean. Another positive comment. Then someone else from the Backbone group says something nice about Dean. Yet another admirer hopes he'll continue using his backbone to stand up to the administration. Finally, yet another person hopes Dean will just be allowed to be Dean.

Allright...so no crime here at all. But judging by the web headline on America's most conservative TV News network, you'd think that the kind of scrutiny Dean was suffering from Liberals was a critical, antsy, queesy kind of scrutiny. But alas, the article reveals a bunch of Dean supporters hoping he'll hold firm to his principles.

I have a funny feeling that not even 10% of Foxnews.com readers opened up the article. I'll bet they just saw the headline and had their negative feelings toward Dean re-enforced. Pure speculation, but there you have it.

So then I head off to cnn.com to see what's new in the world. Well, lookee here: it's the very same Associated Press story. The headline's a little less loaded though: Liberal Groups Watching Dean. I guess I can abide by that. But...I'm going to be keeping a tight watch on journalists. And you know what I'm gonna do? A direct suggestion from my wife: "When you see an article written fairly and journalistically, write them and thank them. When you see that they've been unfair and bad journalists, write them and tell them they did wrong." I think that's a great idea.

How about you? Can I count on you to give that a shot, at least every now and then? They've proven that if we're not watching them, if we don't say "Hold on there buddy!" then they'll do anything they want. I think it's time to call them on their mistakes, and I intend to do precisely that!