This is the height of the Manhattan social season and Election Day is approaching, so invitations to fund-raisers, award shows, and political party functions are flooding in. If I were a younger woman, I might find attending all these affairs exciting, but I’m not and I don’t.

These days, I especially avoid any soirees or luncheons where I might come in contact with journalists from liberal broadcasters, which lately seem to be shilling for our enemies rather than behaving as legitimate news gatherers. Yet I did accept an invitation to a luncheon at the Waldorf this Wednesday, because awards were being given to women of courage who actually deserve them.

As I gazed around the reception area, I spotted anchors from CNN and the alphabet networks and quietly thought, “Ugh.” Shame on me for such a mean-spirited reaction, but I just couldn’t help it. I’m usually pretty objective about anyone’s political sentiments, but I scream when journalists inject their partisan leanings into reporting the news.

CNN recently aired video given to it by the enemy showing the sniper attacks on our warriors fighting in Iraq. “Worst week ever,” “Heavy casualties for the Marines,” “Bad news, blah, blah, blah” — so go the headlines from the Associated Press, Reuters, ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC and of course, the Soros-supported organizations like MoveOn.org.

Here’s a little fact that I’ll wait in vain for these news outlets to report. We were involved in World War II for three years and seven months. We’ve been in Iraq for about the same amount of time and the military deaths may soon approach 3,000. The military loss total in World War II was 400,000, and there were millions of civilian deaths. There was no concern back then about collateral damage on either side.

Our military is incurring heavier losses than it has to because of the concern for civilian casualties. Meanwhile, it is fighting a craven enemy that uses civilians for cover. Americans should be hearing news reported fairly, but the major networks and news publication are bending over backwards to give the enemy what they consider a fair shake. I call it aid and comfort, and there’s a little passage in our Constitution that warns about doing just that.

I pushed these thoughts to the back of my mind and tried to concentrate on the purpose of the luncheon. The noisy crowd was brought to attention by Eleanor Clift of Newsweek, a woman who never fails to raise my blood pressure whenever I happen to catch her on television. She then introduced the award-winning journalists and I gladly joined in the applause. Usually, liberals tend to consider journalists courageous only if they attack President Bush and Republicans, but these women went up against genuine evil and were lucky to have escaped with their lives.

Jill Carroll, the staff writer for the Christian Science Monitor who was abducted in January and held for 82 days, has received the most attention in the press (and was the only name I recognized in the invitation).

May Chidiac is a Lebanese journalist who hosted a television program, “Nharkom Said” (“Good Day”). After a show that addressed Syria’s involvement in the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a bomb exploded near her car and she lost her left hand and leg.

Gao Yu is a Chinese economics and political reporter who was sentenced in 1993 to six years in prison for “leaking state secrets” through a Hong Kong-based pro-Chinese government newspaper. Her writing and involvement in the pro-democracy movement and her high regard for freedom, democracy, and human rights certainly can set an example for the liberal journalists whose main interests seem to be ousting Republicans from Congress.

Elena Poniatowska Amor is a renowned journalist and author from Mexico. The 74-year-old was bravely dressed in colorful native dress, but unlike the radical Hispanic groups protesting at Columbia University and Los Angeles, Ms. Amor has targeted the real culprit behind the mass illegal immigration to America. She exposes the corruption and killing by the Mexican government of its poor citizens. Brava, Brava.

These are tremendous examples of the women of courage in journalism, and I’m glad I could share in honoring their bravery. I did note, however, the difference between attending events such as this and the ones I usually attend, which are held by conservative and respect-life foundations. Most of the latter reserve a table for the press and photographers in some area off to one side but still on the main floor as the rest of assemblage, and the press is served the same meal.

At the Waldorf event, the reporters were placed in the balcony overlooking the paid guests and were provided a table with sandwiches, chips, and soda — rather like extras on a movie set.

Guess who really likes the working class?