Pinch will never be Mayor at this rate

The blogosphere has been abuzz over the NY Times's new TimesSelect policy, accusing it of shielding its columnists from serious criticism. I can't say, but what I do know is that the NYT is a piker when it comes to delivering liberal bias to an influencial demographic and a world-class piker when it comes to getting paid for it...

A virtual requirement for those who make their living in the capital markets is a Bloomberg. Or more specifically, "The Bloomberg Professional Service" which up until recently could only be brought to your desk through a proprietary computer terminal, thus the industry shorthand "a Bloomberg." Many professionals start their day perusing the news items on their Bloomberg and the most general news screen is the TOP function, which gives you the top stories from Bloomberg News. It is basically Bloomberg's front page. When it comes to liberal bias the NYT has nothing on Bloomberg TOP. Everday this screen treats us to liberal takes on the economy and politics. Today, for example, was an extremely light day, just Margaret Carlson declaring that the Bush presidency was over because 1) Katrina flooded New Orleans, 2) Tom DeLay was indicted and 3) Bill Frist sold HCA stock, all in about a month or so. But days like July 14, 2005 are my favorites - out of 19 stories on TOP, these were 5 of them:

1. "Hedge Funds...Sell Republicans Short, Invest in Dems"
2. "Rove - Thug, Coward, and Now Smoking Gun"
3. A story about how Joe Wilson's claims all hold up (despite Senate determinations that they do not).
4. A hit piece on supply-side economics by hyper-partisan, non-economist Gene Sperling entitled "Try a Little Quiz About Supply-Side Economics" (which was part 2 of two part trashing of SS economics, part 1 was the previous day)
5. "Goldman Economists Are Skeptical of Bush Budget Optimism"

Any given day can be light or heavy, but it is a virtual lock that TOP will feature the Al Hunt, former WSJ token liberal columnist, unapologetic liberal worldview. (To be fair, they did just sign up Kevin Hassett, so Hassett is to Bloomberg what Tierney is to the NYT.)

And what does Bloomberg cost? $1700 a month. Pinch Sulzberger only wishes he could brainwash his readers for that kinda coin.