Walter Cronkite has been in journalism for 60 years; I've been in journalism less than 10.

While Mr. Cronkite might have the advantage on me in terms of years, I beg to differ with his assessment of the state of journalism.

In his Aug. 10 syndicated column, Cronkite admitted that most reporters are liberal. He went on to say that it's okay, just as long as they “adhere to the first ideals of journalism—that news reports must be fair, accurate and unbiased.”

If the two experiences I've had with major news media in the past few weeks are any indication, I don't hold out much hope for Cronkite's ideals.

As a journalist with the Register, I'm fully aware of the biases a reporter brings to his or her work. I am not so ignorant as to believe that reporters live in a vacuum, and I hold no illusions that those biases do not subtly influence their work.

However, what has so surprised me over the past week is how blatant the media have become in showing their bias. They flaunt it without any sense of shame.

On Aug. 22, a producer with “The Next Big Thing,” a National Public Radio program of WNYC in New York, interviewed me.

The story was about why people choose to switch political parties. During the interview I spoke of how, because of my pro-life views, I felt the need to leave the party of my youth—the Democrats. It was a risky but honest admission for a journalist.

While I maintained no illusions that I would be blessed with a sympathetic interviewer, I certainly didn't expect what happened next.

Midway through the interview, just after speaking about my religious beliefs and sharing a very personal experience regarding abortion, the producer admitted she “certainly wouldn't share those views.”

I was so dumbfounded by her remark that I responded only with silence. I didn't know how to respond.

Whether or not the producer shares the views of those she is interviewing is immaterial. What could possibly be the reason for her to feel the need to share this information with me?

To me, it felt like a kind of interviewer oneupmanship meant to intimidate the interviewee. Whatever the reason, it was not only inappropriate but also unprofessional.

My image of the objective, unbiased reporter had been shattered.

I can't wait to hear how they butcher the segment, which is set to air sometime this fall. I do not have high hopes for it.

“Devout Catholic,” I am certain, was the publicist's code word for closed-minded.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, it did.

At the end of August, I contacted CBS television for a story I was working on regarding potential mis-reporting by “CBS Evening News.” The story dealt with CBS' alleged manipulation of an Aug. 8 interview with Catholic radio talk-show host Jeff Cavins.

Cavins claimed CBS edited his comments to suggest he and his listeners were supporting CBS when, in fact, they were not.

During my investigation for the story, I spoke with a publicist at CBS. In the middle of my questioning, she asked with whom I had been speaking.

“Are all of the people who are complaining devout Catholics?” she asked.

I told her that was a judgment I, as a reporter, had no ability to make. I do not carry a theological micrometer hanging from my belt to use on unsuspecting interview subjects.

The publicist seemed to be suggesting that if the complaints were coming from those she deemed “devout Catholics,” they were not valid.

I was outraged by her question.

Imagine the Jewish people complaining of their treatment under the early years of national social-ism's rise in prewar Germany. The publicist's question would be like asking if the Jews who were complaining about their treatment were Orthodox, as if that fact somehow negated their complaint.

“Devout Catholic,” I am certain, was the publicist's code word for closed-minded. I imagine it's the type of descriptor used by the media elite at urban cocktail parties, and I'm certain they use the term in a far less positive way than, say, a “recovering Catholic,” a “lapsed Catholic” or a “collapsed Catholic.”

Philip Jenkins, author of The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice, was right when he compared anti-Catholicism to the antiSemitism of the intellectuals.

I'm beginning to think that we as Catholics have confronted such bias for so long that we have simply grown accustomed to it. In growing used to it, we've become content with the degraded rights we face.

Mr. Cronkite, we have a long, long way to go before our news reports are truly fair, balanced and unbiased. I'm not holding my breath.

Staff writer Tim Drake is managing editor of Catholic.net. He writes from St. Cloud, Minnesota.