Okay, I agree with your selection of Jim Lehrer...but you've got to admit that those eyes look like they can sideways blink, just like the foot-pursuit guy in Men In Black

Isn't the idea of an unbiased media source a quaint idea of the past? When you only had 3 choices for news, it was a worthy ideal. But now it's a shield that partisan outfits like CBS hide behind but willfully flout.

We'd be better off if we just dispensed with the concept all together.

Come on! This was rigged! Lehrer has been opening left-leaning for years. Don't let that whole PBS thing fool you. :-) MacNeil always had to keep Lehrer from morphing into Dan Rather. Since MacNeil left, Lehrer has moved left, and Brit Hume is now the best there is.

I agree. It's a shame that the rest of the Public Broadcasting network leans so hard away from this great inspiration. They should let him have the complete management of their news organization. I wonder if their pronounced lean is because of who they get their money from? Maybe we should all send them a check and some instruction next pledge drive.

- Hey .... I demand a recount...Where is Russert in all of this... His main qualification, aside from asking very on point questions, is his obvious efforts to suppress his on party leaning's in favor of a balanced presentation, giving no one a pass, and at times hammering Liberals even harder... At least a mention I would think.... and I still think Hume is the better of your two choices, mainly because he's easier to listen to and covers a much broader range of issues and topics than Lehrer...

I can't see why being openly partisan is disqualifying. It shows a lot more respect for the truth than trying to pretend you're neutral.

I'm glad to see Jim checked his bags at the door.

Robert -

There's nothing wrong with being openly partisan (as long as your points are competent, and Hume's are very competent), but:

A. The criterion for the contest was neutrality ("fairness")

B. Partisanship alienates certain portions of a potential audience, and the goal is to disseminate raw info to as much of the public as possible. Neutrality is also the standard of the traditional newsperson; it's notable to point out the person who most lives up to being the type of journalist that Dan Rather claims to be ...

Hunter -

Russert is great, but no one mentioned him, he's not an anchor and I've seen him lean a bit left (though he is very fair in his Sunday eviscerations) so he probably wouldn't have won anyway.

Sorry, I stopped watching Lehrer years ago becaue he was so clearly left-biased. Try again!

A fair anchor is going to annoy you about half the time ...

Pretty good, I would have picked Hume though. I do watch Lehrer on occasion. That news report was better when McNeil was onboard. When is he coming back?

I believe that he's retired.

Lehrer is smarmy. Better a clearcut leftwinger than a sanctimonious one.

I've tried. I realy have. I just can't watch Lehrer for more than a few minutes at a time. He may be left, he may be right, he may be straight down the middle. I can't tell you which, because I can't stay focussed on him long enough to find out.

Hume is watchable. It's the screaming duets I can't stand. Of course, without the screamers all Fox News programs would be five minutes long. Let's hear it for the genius that invented the MUTE button.

Actually, watching Fox with the sound off may actually be the best solution. You can read the crawl, and then turn the sound on when Brit, Laurie, Uma or Carol shows up on the screen.

I didn't think of it at the time, though you might remember his radio show, Bill: Sam Donaldson. Not flamboyant, but he didn't seem to be in the "Raving Loon" (party) camp during his stint on WMAL.

I voted for Chris Wallace, but you are correct in your DQ of him. I forgot about the Bush twins (or maybe that's a repressed memory) at the convention. That's grounds for disqualification based on the standard of GP (General Priniple.)

So who won ...

I never got past Laurie Dhue's picture ......

Agreed!
(And the Ramones are God's vengeance unto disco.)

Hmph. Charles Osgood is out because he's boring?

--|PW|--

You know, until now, I thought Kevin and JT of Wizbang and The commissar were the coolest conservatives I know, but you are right up there with them Bill.

David - I hope you still think I'm cool when I tear into one of your posts. And to be honest, I'm a right-leaning moderate (thought far to the right of Ghengis Khan on foreign policy).

Pennywit - Jim Lehrer is "boring." Osgood is an IV drip of tryptophan.

Oh, come on! Not only are those eyes highly sophisticated aliens sensors, he's got Karl Malden's nose!

Then again, Hume looks like Droopy.

You believe Brit Hume has political leanings and Jim Lehrer is neutral....
Ha! - That's the problem with people that are biassed. Just like Dan " we're ready to believe you" Rather. You probably tell everyone you're an independent...right! Only fooling yourself big boy!

Don fm hurricane Alley

1. I don't tell people that I'm an independent.

2. Lehrer tracks closer to the center than Hume, though I agree with Hume 90% of the time.

Nicely done, intellectually honestly done, and I agree with the contest's result.

Bravo!

The only other one who gave a positive review of the Bush Twins was in Michael Moore's USA Today piece.

So, Chris Wallace is a left-wing bomb thrower? Bill, say it ain't so! :-)

It really depends upon what one thinks a news anchor is supposed to do.

Of all the national news shows, Hume's and McNeil's are the only I find palatable options. In large part because national news programming is really DC (political), NY (financial), and LA (entertainment) news, replete with the biases of entrenched Washingtonians, New Yorkers or LAlites. While both Hume and McNeil have biases, evident in their choice of coverage, in their actual reporting both have the ability to set aside bias while extracting relevant facts. Yet at least a third of both programs are devoted to guest analysis and panel or pundit rebuttal (and here the biases are really evident).

I guess this is just a long way to say that IMO the only true news anchors are at the local level e.g. "Good evening, I’m Adele Arakawa and this is what happened in Denver today..."

And Bill, I'd take Mara Liasson over Mort Kondracke any day - both are capable of putting forth cogent and insightful thoughts, but Mort takes twice as long...

And Bill, I'd take Mara Liasson over Mort Kondracke any day

Careful, my friend. Sacreligious talk like that is liable to get you banned from commenting at INDC.

Bill it wont bother me at all, as I am sure you know by now, I can give as well as I take. And I dont take it personal unless you make it that way. So if you are reading ISOU, have at it, I love good discussion.

Oops, strike McNeil and replace with Lehrer above. Even though its the News Hour now, I still think of it as McNeil/Lehrer. My (bad) mistake.

Banned? Wow, that would be the second time I get tossed from DC (though my pop putting me on a westward bound bus in 79 is probably a bit more traumatic)

Laurie Dhue?!?!?! I can not believe she was even semi-seriously considered.

During the 'war' stage of the GulfWarII she couldn't go more than 3 minutes without making a comment or asking a question that was either dumb or extremely naive.

Yes, she has visual appeal. But she is limited to doing the news reading. If she is on longer than that I either changed the channel or mute the sound [hey, I did agree that she has visual appeal :)]

Now that you mention it, does Charles Osgood have a prizon record or something--all of a sudden he looks creepy.

I went blind with laughter at Lou Dobbs

Bill Moyers is the most impartial anchor on TV.

And by impartial I mean, "great big gurgling blob of crazed propaganda."

I agree with another poster. Pretendng to be impartial obscures information, it doesn't help to reveal it.

We are ALL biased in some way shape or form and it's foolish to think anyone could keep those biases out of their news reporting no matter how much they tried. People tend to believe that their beliefs are more widely shared by the rest of the public than they often really are. There's no way this reality stays out of the nightly news broadcasts.

I'm MAD AS HELL that you left out the greatest and most "balanced" news anchor of all time, the incomparable Howard Beale of UBS-TV:

"This is not a psychotic episode, it is a cleansing moment of clarity."
- Howard Beale (Network, 1976)

Click the link below to enjoy the complete script...

Hey you forgot John Stossel from 20/20 he has done a lot to frustrait the liberal main-stream news media and has a book out GIVE ME A BREAK(and i dont mean the dumb TV series)we need more like this for the truth

Of those, Greenfield is the funnest to watch mostly because hes so bad.

Its awesome when he jumps into the mode of speaking for other people. "We in the media believe ..." "We Americans think blah blah blah ". Its famously insulting.

And when he actively dismisses the comments of others, especially Judy Woodroof - its great watching his colleagues try to repair the supremely awkward scenes he's created.

I watch Jeff for the same reason I still pick up NYT every once in a while - to laugh at it.

I still vote Shepard Smith. I watch his shows on Fox and have yet to hear any bias - conservative or liberal. Not only that, he has a terrific sense of humor.

Shepard is an enjoyable anchor. He was a local anchor in my hometown many years back, so I knew Shep before knowing Shep was even cool.

Definitely Shep Smith - although his tangents are often not worthwhile.

"Who left this Gary Numan mannequin in the studio? Hey, there's an electrical cord coming out of the small of its back, let's plug it in and see what happens!"

Methinks Jane Skinner is the best because... I said she was!! I like it when she's on the air.

OK, I'll get a life...

Oh, his name is Lou Dobbs. I've always referred to him as Loud Obbs.

i sure thought this was going to end well when i saw my absolute favorite TV guy (Brit Hume) in the top 2. but alas!

at least you got close, though. :)

Naahhhh, I'd chose Brit Hume in a flash o' a second.

While I agree with the final two selections, my all time favored is Brit Hume. Has stature. An interesting voice that never irritates or wanders. Smart and efficient comments and quick responses. FOX loses only in that they don't provide us with more air time from Hume.

Bill,

You forgot to mention that Glenn Reynolds is a puppy blender according to that bastion of truth and honesty Frank J.

Hey,

You forgot Lauren Green from FOX. I think she is smarter than Dhue and just as good looking.

My vote goes to Lehrer. Part of the reason is the superior format that the Newshour uses. It covers only 3 or 4 issues per show (3 of 4 are news based) and therefore each topic is covered with some depth. The guests are usually well informed, repectful, and experts in their field (not just talking heads). Usually the Newshour has at least one person for each side. And the opposing guests are even " allowed" to agree with each other. All segments are handled in a very respectful manner and histronics and talking over each other is avoided. It is not uncommon for the the important person of the day to be a guest, i.e. Allawi.

The show is geared for an audience who is willing to listen longer and do some independent thinking.

One of the downsides is that it uses the NYT as their go to source for current news.

Believe me, I look very hard for bias and feel Lehrer does a good job of keeping his views close to the vest.

Laura Dew on Fox is unwatachable for me after one short incident a year ago.

Some soldier back from Iraq was in the studio talking about how he was slightly injured receiving shrapnel into his leg, but he was okay.

Laura's jaw dropped, eyes wide open, yelling "You were hit by SHRAPNEL?!! Oh my god!" It was so painful watching the guy try to convince her the SHRAPNEL wasn't life threatening. She just didn't get it.

As if the junk was radioactive, asbestos, arsenic, ricin or something. Sheesh.

Cut the crap, Britt Hume is the best.

"you forgot John Stossel"

Heh-heh. I thought that was a joke at first. It should have been. Like "you forgot Geraldo." Those guys are two peas in a pod.

Jim Lehrer - great selection. I was impressed that you whittled it down to him. Whether people like his delivery or not, he clearly knows what he's talking about and may lean lean, but it's not obvious. The folks here who think being partisan somehow makes you more "honest" apparently don't see through the like of Sean Hannity OR Michael Moore (See, *I'm* being "fair and balanced".)

Being fair and balanced is about going after the truth whether your side is aligned with the truth or not. Assuming your side is always on the side of truth only betrays a lack of sophistication and a depressing tendency to be inappropriately malleable and at the mercy of your politcal party.

Finally, I'm not a Fox fan at all, but I'll admit that Hume is the best of the Fox lot.

Nice blogger design.