Last year, in all of the election fervor, you might have noticed a new acronym being thrown around the Internet if you were as connected to news sources and blogs as I was. The letters “MSM,” which stand for “Mainstream Media,” would appear like a golden siren, alerting me to the political orientation (not to mention anger level) of the poster in question. You see, MSM is always a negative term; there is no one who ever speaks highly of the Mainstream Media. And when I started noticing the appearance of the acronym last October and November, there was only one reason why anyone was ever pissed at the media: the supposedly blatant Obama favoritism.

Now, accusations of liberal bias in the media (always excepting FoxNews) have a long history in America. Accusers will point to statistics like the disproportionately high percentage of media folk with liberal political orientations and what they often claim is unfairly rosy coverage of anyone who swears allegiance to the Blue Donkey.

During this election cycle, accusations rose to an unprecedented high. Perhaps it was just that conservatives were angry that the Democrats’ candidate (for once) was actually cooler than that of the Republicans’, but the level of vitriol directed toward the MSM could be measured from space. After the election, one prominent Republican blowhard, John Ziegler, even put forward his own cash to conduct a poll of people who voted for Obama, seeking to determine once and for all that they had been led astray by the ever-heinous MSM. The results? Only that cleverly-written questions can always skew the data in your favor.

I don’t quite understand why people are always so quick to point out political bias in the media. To be sure, it happens occasionally, but far less often than it would seem that most people believe. The major networks aren’t stupid: They know that any actual favoritism on their part would lead to disastrous consequences. I don’t really mind it though, because at least it prompts people to actively question the information they receive—although I fear that it also has the adverse corresponding effect of making those people trust the actually slanted news outlet of their choice (Fox, NPR, etc.) unconditionally.

However, the endless accusations of political bias do irk me for one specific reason: They blind people to the one true bias of all forms of media, the greatest bias known to man: money. Is there any doubt that the possibility of having more green in their wallets takes precedence over any petty issues of politics? Media is a business, one of the biggest businesses around, and don’t you forget it.

While conservatives cried foul at the media’s treatment of Sarah Palin (which hilariously came packaged with Republicans suddenly becoming the bastions of feminism), they missed the real reason behind all of the coverage: Americans couldn’t get enough of Sarah Palin. She was like a reality TV show! She hit the stage when we knew nothing about her and proceeded to kick ass and take names like nobody’s business. But then, just when she seemed poised to (almost literally) take over the world, she began to crack under pressure and thus began a smoky spiral in an explosion of self-defeat. American politics or the next MTV beach-based reality show? You decide—either way, it sells.

This doesn’t just crop up during election season, of course. As the networks have discovered the selling power of violence, the expression “if it bleeds, it leads” has only become more true. Stories of gang shootings, etc., get more people to watch the news, which in turn gets the media more dollars from those always-scrupulous advertisers. How else can you explain the fact that media coverage of murder has steadily risen even while the actual number of murders has fallen year after year?

But I’m on a bit of a digression. The point is: No one seems to trust the MSM, although it is the source for 90 percent of our national news. Sometimes the reasons are a bit overblown, while other times they are dead on, but regardless, no one trusts the media. Does this bother anyone else? Our entire country cannot bring itself to trust our major information networks and one of the fundamental building blocks of democracy.

I suppose this is the point where I would tell you all to go out there and actually make a difference in the media to shake things up, but I can’t really bring myself to do that. Maybe my own pessimism about the media is just too great; maybe the fact all of our news comes from corporations so large they should just be called Conglamo! has got me down; maybe it’s just that I find myself also a part of that group that just can’t trust the media. If, however, despite my pessimism, you manage to go out there and actually improve things in the news industry, then rest assured that you will have both my most heartfelt thanks and also my most astonished look.

As for me? Well, I’ve decided to get my news from the BBC…