Conservatives aren't born ... they're made

When I tell people I am a conservative, and then I tell them the jobs I have had, they are usually surprised. I worked for 15 years in print journalism in Ohio and Michigan, and then spent 5 years as a part-timer in "academia", before finally finding a way out of the working grind. These are not typically "conservative" professions, and I will admit that I was not as forthrightly conservative when I started this journey as I am now. I consider my conservatism hard-won, and I'm all the prouder for it.

I say this as an introduction to this email, from a former colleague now working for a national broadcast (TV, not cable) news network. She is about 10 years younger than me and, although we were at very different points in our lives when we met, we worked well together and kept in touch ever since. She's not what you'd call a conservative, but neither was I when I was in the newsroom. But it is interesting, as we watch from the outside as the newscycle become "progressively" and openly more pro-Obama, anti-McCain and especially anti-Palin, to see how it looks to those laboring away on the inside. For reasons you will understand I will not give her name, or the name of the network she works for. She has agreed to let me reprint some of her email, with identifying names removed (and some spelling mistakes corrected. Once a copyeditor, always a copyeditor). I hope you will find it an interesting read:

[snip]

It can be frustrating. [The network] obtained some documents which could have led to some good reporting - but v. bad for Obama. I worked this assignment for a week, brought my report to the 8AM, and NOTHING. Nobody raised any objections or asked any questions, they just WERE NOT INTERESTED. They ran some anti-Palin story that night.

[snip]

It is strange. I've never heard anyone say that 'we are not interested in bad news for Obama' but everybody gets the message. The [Obama] campaign is aggressive, but that's not unusual. It's just something in the culture of the newsroom. I think some of them dislike McCain because of things that were said, but that can't be all of it. I work on good stories, and, if they don't fit in with the rest of what the network is producing, they are just abandoned for no good reason. ... I'm not the only one who has noticed. There are a group of us who are becoming very frustrated. If we are going to work in advertising, they should pay us accordingly.

I thought it was interesting, in light of what I've read here and other rumors I've heard. I also thought it was interesting that, for the first time in 12 years, she says she will be voting Republican. The liberal media creates another conservative.