American journalists have a predisposed bias to support capitalism and democracy, which is part of the reason why they’ve done a poor job covering the Mideast, University of Texas journalism professor Robert Jensen told a Stanford audience Jan. 27, according to the student newspaper, The Stanford Daily. “Everybody hates the media,” Jensen said. “The problem is that everybody does not hate the news media for the right reasons.” According to a story by student reporter James Hohmann, Jensen complained that news outlets are beholden to advertisers and that journalists too often let sources in positions of power and authority shape the angle and direction of their coverage. Jensen said that while he is a journalism professor, he doesn’t have a TV at home because he sees the medium as a “toxic waste dump.” He favors increased unionization for reporters to “give working journalists some control over their own work.”