Revelations that the son of former Vermont Governor and Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean had been arrested over the weekend for burglary and possession of stolen property put a third party in the spotlight by default. While Mr. Dean has instructed the police, as if they would be taking instructions from any other perpetrator’s parents, to use the full weight of the law in his son’s case it will be the mainstream media on trial here; the verdict once and for all condemning or upholding the claim that it is not bias to the left.

Although the events at the Burlington Country Club in Vermont, of which the Dean’s are not members, appear to be in the category of "youthful indiscretions”, the implications for the alphabet networks is far reaching. It is not about the guilt or innocence of a group of high school buddies who chose poorly to extract some liquor from a secured room at a building on private property; that is a moot point. They did it and I am sure that an appropriate punishment will come to them not only from the legal community but from their parents as well. Of course I assume this because they don’t attend Glenbrook North High School and reside in Northbrook, Illinois. Had that been the case I am sure they would be suing the country club for enticing them by having liquor in a locked room. No, this event is all about how the media spotlights the events that took place.

Not too long after President Bush took office the media jumped all over him and the First Lady because his college aged twin daughters, Jenna & Barbara, were caught out with their buddies drinking alcoholic beverages while underage. Granted, there is no doubt that they broke the law but it is a law that is broken on every college campus in every campus town in every state in the United States. Right or wrong, college students do this. It shouldn’t come as a surprise and it is nothing new. But to have read the reports in the mainstream media outlets one would have thought the Bush girls were the only under-aged students to have ever tried to sip from the cup that transforms the beauty of a serene morning into one that is experienced with bloodshot eyes, a foggy brain and a queasy stomach. Day after day they wrote and talked about how the Bush’s were going to handle the matter, if they were going to get special treatment, if the girls had a problem with alcoholism, the assumptions and accusation went on as if it were a matter of national security. The Bush girls were wild according to the alphabet media accounts. But the fact remains that the Bush daughters, in their pursuit of normalcy, hadn’t done anything that normal college students try to do. They were operating within the realm of normal behavior for just under-aged college students.

The case of Howard Dean’s 17-year old son, albeit classified as a youthful indiscretion as well, is a bit different due to the burglary charge. Should they be thrown in jail for their actions? No. That would be too extreme. But what must happen here if a balanced fairness is to be employed is to see a proportionate amount of coverage afforded the matter. It is one thing to try to get served alcoholic beverages while you are underage but it is quite another story to burglarize a location in order to take possession of illegal alcohol. The differences in these two stories are clear and there can be no doubt about which event was more serious.

The media’s litmus test to their claim of non-bias reporting stands well defined in this instance. If they are to report on the events of the day then they have to give as much scrutiny to Howard Dean’s son as they did to the Bush daughters. They need to examine how the Dean’s will handle this situation, whether Howard Dean ever attended parties during his time in college, whether Mr. Dean’s son has a problem with alcohol or perhaps even a more serious problem with regard to the act of burglary. The alphabet media outlets have to put this young man and his family under the same magnifying glass that they put the Bush daughters and their family under otherwise the claims of fair treatment for all and non-bias reporting become nothing more than hollow words with no real meaning. If the mainstream media doesn’t dissect the Dean’s exactly the same way they dissected the Bush’s, their claims of honesty, fairness, credibility, and non-bias will ring about as true as al Jazeera’s.

There are some that will claim that this is a private matter between a private citizen and his family. They will claim that because George W. Bush was President at the time of his daughters’ indiscretions that the situation was different. This is incorrect for at least two reasons: 1) Howard Dean is running for the Democratic nomination for the very same job. It didn’t stop the Gore campaign, spearheaded by Terry McAuliffe, from dragging up inane pieces of history regarding W’s college days and it shouldn’t stop the mainstream media from taking a closer look at the Dean family, especially if they want to be the First Family. 2) This is a legitimate news story. Would it have made national news if the Dean boy wasn’t who he is? No, not likely, but he is who he is, his father is who his father is and he is running for the office he is running for. This in itself makes it a national news story. Just as the alphabet media outlets let their imaginations go wild over the Bush girls, so too must they employ the same style of creativity when discussing and spotlighting the Dean boy.

This is the moment of truth for the mainstream media. It is time to put up or shut-up. It is time to employ tactics that are fair and balanced. If they do not they can only be described as tools of the left and rightly so. The majority of American people have always suspected the mainstream media of being the political toadies of the left and the liberal movement. If they fail this litmus test it will only be a validation of what most of us have known all along.

Frank Salvato is a political media consultant and the managing editor for The New Media Journal.us. He is a contributing writer for The Washington Dispatch, GOPUSA, OpinionEditorials, Men’s News Daily, Canada Free Press & AmericanDaily. His pieces are regularly featured in Townhall.com. He has appeared as a guest on The O’Reilly Factor, The Kevin Matthews Radio Show (Chicago) and The Brad Messer Radio Show (San Antonio). His pieces have been recognized by the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention and are occasionally featured in The Washington Times and The London Morning Paper as well as other national and international publications.