Puppetry of...the Media?

So I must confess that when I open up my internet browser, my homepage is the New York Times website. I’ve been reading the paper since I was little, and I tend to think that the writing is on the whole fairly unbiased. Maybe this is because I’ve grown up with it and believe most of the views the journalists are inevitably feeding me, or maybe it’s because I’m New Yorker
Yesterday, when opening my browser, the picture and main headline on the site caught my attention. But instead of covering a national topic, like Obama’s recent election of his cabinet members, the Times chose to zero in on a local human interest subject, with an article entitled, “Forget Citigroup, Puppet Show Needs a Bailout” (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/theater/02pupp.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=arts). It tells of a charming little marionette theater in a “decidedly scrappy edge of downtown Los Angeles” that has been entertaining children for almost fifty years, but is now facing potential bankruptcy, with the owner of the establishment (and head puppeteer) owing over $30,000 in debt.
This story caught my attention because it came off to me as so liberally biased. The writer stresses the importance of the theater as a quaint, anti-commercialist venture that has not changed for five decades and has been pleasing children with puppets and old-fashioned ice-cream. She goes on to say that the marionette theater is a “charming throwback” in comparison to the Hollywood theaters where “organic certifications of birthday cakes are debated at length on Web sites,” and that without this theater, many lower-class children in the area would never have the opportunity to see a live production. Clearly, this writer has an agenda to highlight the importance of small-town businesses that provide the same services as those found in corporate America, with more charm and down-to-earth roots. I’m not saying that I don’t agree, but by putting this article on the front page of its website, the New York Times is making a statement about its tendencies towards liberal bias.