The Associated Press ran a story on the wires late yesterday on Union-Tribune columnist James Goldsborough's decision to quit his cushy job [I characterize it that way because I'd love to have it] because publisher David Copley spiked his Monday column.

If you've ever wanted evidence that the mainstream media tilts left, this article has it.

But Goldsborough, a columnist at the newspaper for 12 years and one-time Paris bureau chief for Newsweek, said he believed the right-leaning Union-Tribune was targeting moderates like himself and another columnist who was fired in April.

"There's just an effort here to control what columnists say and you can't do that. That's what columnists do. They're independent voices. And you might as well not have columnists if you're just going to bend their views to fit some editorial position," he said.

Goldsborough's resignation, effective Dec. 10, follows the dismissal of columnist Neil Morgan, who spent 54 years with the newspaper and its predecessor.

Morgan, also a moderate, said he believed he was forced out for angering a senior newspaper executive who shared information with him about "a prominent San Diegan." Morgan said the executive accused him of lying to other managers about their conversation. [emphasis added]

If Goldsborough isn't a liberal, then no one is a liberal -- no one. Heck, even Morgan admitted when he was fired earlier this year that he was a liberal.

Dean Nelson (director of the journalism program at Point Loma Nazarene University): So why did you get fired?

Neil Morgan: Because I'm a goddamned liberal.

Moderates? Dream on.