Finally, it appears that the cry of conservatives is being heard by the liberal mainstream media. Well, maybe a more correct observation is that the cry is no longer being ignored by the mainstream press.

   The surveys say we conservatives, especially Christian conservatives, have a deep distrust of the “fourth estate.” The great divide between us and them was noted in 2003 by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who wrote “one of the deepest divides in America today is the gulf of mutual suspicion that separates evangelicals from secular society.” He went on to say we are a group with which the news media is “completely out of touch.”

   (Interesting that the term “fourth estate” which has been associated particularly with print journalism was coined by Thomas Carlyle (December 4, 1795 – February 5, 1881) a Scottish essayist, who according to online encyclopedia Wikipedia, “was expected by his father to become a preacher. However, while at Edinburgh University he lost his Christian faith. Nevertheless Calvinist values remained with him throughout his life. This combination of a religious temperament with loss of faith in orthodox Christianity made Carlyle’s work appealing to many Victorians who were grappling with scientific and political changes that threatened the traditional social order.”)

   So the “fourth estate” was content to continue to ignore us while it advocated for and framed the political landscape in anticipation of a new social order resulting from the 2004 election. What shock (without the awe) when the traditional values folks got off our duffs and exercised our Constitutional rights at the voting booth!

   And while the moral victories of 2004 got the mainstream media’s attention, could the honest truth actually be the falling bottom lines as big media organizations grapple with how to get back conservative news consumers who gravitated toward 24 hour cable TV, the internet and alternative conservative newspapers and magazines? (For instance, the Dayton Daily News has lost some 30,000 subscribers over the past 4 years.) Are they taking an honest look at the cause and effect of newsrooms stacked with self-identified liberals?

   A 2002 Pew Research Center survey affirmed previous surveys of the nation’s working media which consistently find that “news people, especially national journalists are more liberal, and far less conservative, than the general public.”

   The Pew Media Believability study found that 33% of the general public considered themselves to be conservative while only 7% of the national press and 12% of the local press could call themselves conservative. The discrepancies were even greater when it comes to God and morality. Nearly 58% of the public believes that it is necessary to believe in God to be a moral person. However, according to Pew, 91% of the national journalists say it is not necessary to believe in God to be moral, while 78% of local journalists agree.

   In an effort to become more “fair and balanced” about 200 newspapers across the country recently engaged in an exercise “looking at issues effecting national media.” The Associate Press and Managing Editors roundtables were funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation. Not all the major daily newspapers focused on whether there is liberal bias in their pages, but the Dayton Daily News did look at their credibility with conservatives.

   DDN Assistant Managing Editor Jana Collier organized the “credibility roundtable” discussion, inviting a myriad of conservative types: social, fiscal, Libertarian. Collier said, “What we heard throughout the election…was about how we covered events, not only the Dayton Daily, but wire stories (as well). Readers believe we are bias in news coverage. We want to understand (our readers) better so we can address this.” What they heard included the expected: choice of photos and photo placement; wording in headlines; lack of hard hitting questions; story placement; lack of conservative commentary; and too much focus on negative news.

   The Dayton Daily News is to be applauded for looking inward, but will this self examination result in real change or just window dressing which will come down once conservatives are no longer a force to contend with in the culture?

   It’s interesting to read the March 20 commentary about the credibility roundtable by DDN editor Jeff Bruce. His last paragraph said, “We appreciate the input and take the criticism seriously. We know our credibility is at stake with every edition we print. That’s why we held this forum and why we welcome your continuing feedback.” What Bruce did not say speaks volumes. What are they going to do to answer their conservative readers’ concerns?

   One thing was to get Cal Thomas back as a regular columnist. Cal kills two birds for the DDN– being Evangelical AND conservative. Many readers of both the DDN and the Citizen USA may recall Thomas was booted from the DDN pages several years ago as they saw no need for a Christian conservative columnist. Our friend Cal offered up this gracious comment, “I don’t know about their motives, but I am delighted to be back in a paper that once carried me for years, beginning when the column was still new. And good for them for soliciting the views of readers.”

   But a little longer memory will have people recall that nearly 17 years ago the former DDN president and publisher, Dennis Shere was fired when he rejected an advertisement from a gay and lesbian group. He was reportedly told his personal religious convictions should not influence the way he ran the newspaper.

   When asked if the position of the editorial staff and ownership would reflect the Dayton Daily’s epiphany, and re-think their positions on issues like homosexuality and same sex marriage, Collier indicated that was highly unlikely. She said, “The editorial issues are decided by the editorial board, (and) reflect their true beliefs…I don’t think people on the editorial board will change their feelings.”

   But on the other hand, the newspaper does intend to increase its coverage of “faith issues.” She conceded, “I do think that journalism for awhile has really not done a good job covering faith issues, we ought to be doing a better job…but (the DDN) does do better than lot of other places.”

   So, it will be for the readers to discern whether the Dayton Daily News and other mainstream liberal media outlets are putting on widow dressing for the conservatives and the Christians. However, by their own admission, the foundation of the “fourth estate” is not changing. Editorial boards and liberal owners still hold the reins. When the wind shifts, they will shift too. The only sure foundation is build upon Jesus Christ. When they have that epiphany, we will have something to really talk about!