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at a dinner hosted by Arab-Americans for Rashid Khalidi, a Palestinian activist. The Los Angeles Times is standing on what it calls "journalistic integrity" in not publishing a full transcript of the tape or allowing the tape to be viewed by the public. A citizen journalist probably would not have hesitated in putting the tape out there, even if they were voting for Barack Obama. Does this action imply that a citizen journalist has more or less integrity than a journalist employed by the mainstream media? The answer to that depends on whether you believe that the public's right to know should overshadow a promise made to a source, especially in light of the important decision awaiting voters. If the source did not want the contents of the tape made public, why then did they turn the tape over to the Los Angeles Times in the first place?

The fact is, in some respects media personalities are practicing politics of their own. As Americans, journalists who have chosen to report about political issues are almost certainly voting for someone, but their job is to report information without bias. If you can guess the preferred candidate of a true political journalist, they are not doing their job to the best of their ability. It is what separates a professional journalist from a news commentator. This is why endorsements by media companies or even media personalities are to many of us, a questionable practice.

Media outlets are perceived to be providing a public service, but is it a service to the public in an election year to have reporting on the candidates skewed to one side? Deborah Howell, the ombudsman for The Washington Post has now admitted that there was a tilt in the reporting that appeared in The Washington Post during the 2008 election. In fact, there was more tilt towards the candidacy of Barack Obama in a majority of the reporting done by major media outlets. There can be many reasons to explain this. The fact is Barack Obama's campaign had more money to spend for advertising and media companies make their money off advertising. They are certainly not going to tick off one of their main sources of income in an economy like this. This is an explanation that can't be ignored as we are talking about millions of dollars. President-elect Barack Obama is also the first African-American to run for the office of the President, a newsworthy story all on its own. While, The Washington Post was certainly not the only media outlet to tilt their reporting in this election

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