Calpundit posts his review of What Liberal Media?
I haven't finished it yet- but I agree with Kevin that Alterman is too quick to concede the supposed liberalism of journalists on "social issues." The only way that conservatives win this argument is by defining 'liberal' as 'not conservative.' While I do think journalists bring their biases into their reporting (of course) on such things as abortion, gun control, and gay rights - as for the first two, the biases they display are very centrist or even slightly right-leaning. A solid majority of Americans favor legal abortion. Of that solid majority, there's a centrist portion who would curtail abortion rights around the edges. This is where the bias of journalists is - right in that center. Similarly for gun control.
So, on social issues I think Eric needlessly ignored what he'd written elsewhere, that what is considered to be 'liberal' has been successfully redefined by the Right.
And, as for gay rights issues - while journalists might pretend to be more sympathetic than perhaps the center on this issue, the coverage of these issues is way to the right of the political center of the gay community. The "pro-gay bias" of journalists manifests itself as basically agreeing with Andrew Sullivan on all of these issues, which is why for so long he's been the point man in the media for gay issues. The only one.
