If anyone wonders whether the traditional media plays political favorites, the coverage of Campaign 2004 should remove all doubt.

The press that hammered President Bush for weeks over the “AWOL” accusations pushed by Michael Moore and Democratic Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe was silent for weeks when over 250 veterans kicked off the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign.

John Kerry hasn’t been pressed for answers the way President Bush was earlier this year. The traditional media was even quiet after Kerry finally admitted he never was in Cambodia on Christmas Eve, 1968 despite over 30 years of claiming otherwise.

When the media finally did start reporting the story, it was only to investigate links between the Bush campaign and the Swift Boat vets. (I don’t recall any links being investigated between, say, Michael Moore and the Democratic Party.)

Yet, despite the bias of the traditional media, the story is still being heard.

Tony Blankley thinks this may be a turning point. “Mark the calendar. August 2004 is the first time that the major mainline media [...] ignored a news story that nonetheless became known by two-thirds of the country within two weeks of it being mentioned by the ‘marginal’ press.”

He’s right, and it raises an interesting question: are people waking up to media bias because they have so many other information sources now, or are they seeking other sources because of the media bias? It may be a little of both, but either way, the evidence is incontrovertible: the monopoly of the mainstream press is crumbling. The favoritism they’re showing in this campaign will only hasten the collapse.