Ifill story picking up steam in mainstream press; media faces crisis of credibility on this wrong

The nation's mainstream news media has finally recognized the monstrous conflict on interest involving vice presidential debate moderator Gwen Ifill, with AP distributing the story through Yahoo and other web sites.

It will be interesting to see how The New York Times and the TV networks handle the story. One thing I can tell you, if this had been Rush Limbaugh in Ifill's position, this story would be leading every telecast and atop every front page.

The nation's media faces a critical challenge here, if it cares. Ifill's story is a big one and it throws into doubt the credibility of tomorrow night's debate. Is she more important than credibility of the profession and a fair questioning of the candidates?

To me, she's not. But to her media friends, she might be. And that will prove to more people that the media is liberally biased with little hope of objectivity.

Right now, columnists and pundits should be calling for Ifill's dismissal as moderator. CBS' Katie Couric would be a good replacement. For some reason this campaign year, Couric has been shut out of all the debates. She's a good journalist. She deserves better.

I do not believe in sacrificing the credibility of my profession simply for diversity. Ifill's race means nothing to me. Credibility does, first.

Beyond diversity, the mainstream press may not pursue the story because it originated from WorldNetDaily, a conservative media outlet on the Web. The Drudge Report, another conservative outlet, picked it up for wider distribution.

So watch and see who treats Ifill's shocking conflict of interest -- professionally and financially -- as a big story. Then make your decision from that on which media outlets to trust in the future