ABC News director promises to comfort the right

Think Progress writes about Mark Halperin's comments to Bill O'Reilly (now there's a trusted name in journalism) that he understands conservative beefs with the media, and realizes that it's up to news outlets to please them.

Halperin came up in a post yesterday regarding his co-authorship of a new book. The Daily Howler has a more in-depth look at the issue today, with Halperin's book tacitly acknowledging that a handful of reporters' bias against Al Gore had a definite impact on the election.

Maybe it's just my own bias, but Halperin's statements seem to boil down to an acknowledgment that the news business is about ratings rather than substance. Not that that's news.

Halperin on O'Reilly: “If I were a conservative, I understand why I would feel suspicious that I was not going to get a fair break at the end of an election. We’ve got to make sure we do better, so conservatives don’t have to be concerned about that.”

From Halperin's book The Way to Win: “Not every election is a fair fight,” they write (page 130). “The media...helped Bush tell his good story about himself, and helped Republicans tell a bad story about Gore.”