MSNBC has run a story that looks at campaign contributions from a bunch of media types: producers, reporters, etc. The story lists who gave to which party and candidate and then a list of replies from these media members. That’s where the real fun begins. You can hear, in many of their replies, a sense of surprise and possibly even embarrassment at the airing of these contributions.

While the tendency might be to cry foul that these media types are displaying partisan tendencies, I think that’s the wrong response. It’s perfectly fine that these people contributed to the candidate or political party of their choosing. I would too. It’s our right as citizens, to participate in the electoral process. I simply think the process should be transparent, especially for anyone who is in the business of reporting on, and influencing, the process.

Favor one party or another, just tell us that up front so we know where you stand. Bill Dedman, the MSNBC reporter who wrote the story, writes in a companion piece,

MSNBC.com identified 144 journalists who made political contributions from 2004 through the start of the 2008 campaign, according to the public records of the Federal Election Commission. Most of the newsroom checkbooks leaned to the left: 125 journalists gave to Democrats and liberal causes. Only 17 gave to Republicans. Two gave to both parties.

I’m not at all surprised the contributions favor the Democrats. This looks to confirm the axiom that journalists tend to swing to the left side of the political spectrum. I’m pretty OK with that, too. Just tell us how you feel, instead of trying to maintain an artificial sense of “fairness.” I think that’s leading to more problems than we know, especially as more and more people bypass the information gatekeepers.

I wonder how many of these media personnel favor McCain-Feingold, a law that favors the mainstream media’s political clout over that of ordinary citizens’ contributory power. There’s more at the Poynteronline and from Bluto at The Jawa Report.

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