Here is a story, from The New York Times:
Four years ago, the leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus began looking for a television outlet to co-sponsor and broadcast a presidential debate to address the concerns of minority voters.
Only one news channel made an acceptable proposal, and an unlikely channel at that: Fox News, in what some Democrats viewed as an effort to associate itself with a group that could help it make good on its claim of presenting “fair and balanced” news coverage.
But now that relationship is being shaken by the decision of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, and former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina to shun the debate, a move that has exposed fault lines among two major constituencies of the Democratic Party. While the withdrawal by the candidates frustrated members of the black caucus, it mollified liberals who had objected to the involvement of Fox News, whose programming includes some of the most conservative and pro-Republican commentary on the air.
Fox News has a conservative bias, to be sure. The other major networks have long had a liberal bias. The only difference is that Fox's slant is taken for granted by liberals and conservatives alike, whereas the bias of the networks, and the associate press, and Time and Newsweek (I could go on), is recognized only by the right.
Another thing the left takes for granted is Black voters. They are so reliable, the major Democratic candidates can afford to be contemptuous of Black Congressional leadership. It is far more important at this stage of the campaign to please the White intellectuals at the Daily KOS and Moveon.org.
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