My last two columns (here and here) generated considerable feedback from readers. I received quite a few emails like this one from Theresa:

Todd, thank you for your column about media bias. I agree with you—what can be done about this situation?

The Associated Press is the 500-pound gorilla of media bias. They are the gatekeepers of our news and they’re extremely powerful. The liberally biased AP is a monopoly when it comes to distributing news to our nation’s newspapers. It’s useless to complain to them though, because they don’t care. They shoo conservatives whining about bias away as if we were gnats. 

The AP won’t listen to us, but they will listen to newspaper editors. Unfortunately, editors don’t care either. They are too busy to worry about bias and they don’t think it is a problem. Editors are only going to start addressing media bias after complaints from their readers reach a critical mass.

So, the formula for combating bias is to have enough newspaper readers complain and urge the editors to address the situation with the AP directly. The big excuse, of course, is the monopoly status enjoyed by the AP. They will say, “We have to use them, what else can we do?”

It’s time for the AP to have some competition.

The AP is the largest, most comprehensive\\ newsgathering organization in the history of the planet. Obviously, it is impossible to compete with them from a business model standpoint. Fortunately, we don’t have to. Our new competitor, let’s call them Fair & Balanced Press (FBP), could make a huge impact with a relatively small footprint. Like CSPAN, FBP could have the narrow focus of simply covering political news.

FBP could be tasked with reporting the news of the president, the Congress and  elections. FBP would not replace the AP, but supplement it. The goal would be to convince newspapers to use FBP dispatches for their political stories. Continued...