A Case Study in Media Bias

 There is bias in the media, we all know it and we all accept the fact that the media is decidedly liberal. If the coverage of President Obama’s campaign stops in Europe weren’t enough to convince the last remaining hold outs to the biases of the media perhaps the following stories will help.

 One of the most glaring examples of bias in the media to me is the way that stories are written in newspapers and on the internet. We have to look no further than just a couple of weeks ago to see this bias in full effect.

 You can read two examples of this here and here, these are two different stories about corruption by politicians in two different parties. Both recently in the news. If you clicked on both links did you notice anything? I did.

 The first story is about the Democrat mayor of Detroit. How do I know he is a Democrat? You wouldn’t know based on the story because the story never once mentioned his party affiliation. If you didn’t realize he was a Democrat based on the crime rate in Detroit you would have had to google his name to find out.

 This is how the second story starts out: Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator and a figure in Alaska politics since before statehood, was indicted Tuesday. The first sentence told us the party affiliation. The media couldn’t print fast enough which party this particular criminal belonged to.

 Then there is this story about Tom Delay in which the fact that he is a Republican is offered in the first sentence, while this story about Cynthia McKinney offers us no details on her party affiliation. If it wasn’t for the fact that very late in the article it is mentioned that Republicans are trying to seize on McKinney’s assault of an officer people would have no idea what party she belonged to. The article then goes on to say that McKinney represents a  a majority-black, Democratic district but never actually calls her a Democrat.

 This happens more often than not, if you read a story about political corruption and are wondering what party the candidate belongs to, more often than not it is a Democrat and that is why you were left wondering after reading the story. If you read a story about political corruption and the culprit is a Republican, believe me you won’t be left wondering, you will know in the first paragraph, if not the first line.

  This is just a small example of bias in the media, but an example nonetheless. And just one of those little things that irks me.