Ken Paulson, the former editor of USA Today and current First Amendment Center president, offers a good review of media fairness and a contention that today's journalists do a much better job of being unbiased than their predecessors:

Has there ever been a time in American history when the news media were held in such low regard?

Sure. Pretty much since the birth of this nation.

Despite the perception of news media bias, the truth is that most traditional news organizations -- primarily newspapers, their Web sites and local TV and radio -- adhere to in-house ethics codes and keep politicians at arm's length.

Yes, you read that right. Most traditional news media strive daily to report news about their communities without regard to political affiliation or special interests.

In sharp contrast, throughout most of this nation's history, news organizations openly affiliated themselves with political parties. Until the Civil War era, few pretended to be fair or objective, or even saw those as positive traits.

See his entire piece HERE.