The Unbiased Media Gets Down to Business

Picture credit: USA Today
I opened up the paper this morning and witnessed a veritable cornucopia of wholesome, unbiased reporting. First article:

---

The headline reads, "Sept. 11 group criticizes White House"; but buried in the heart of the article is the real story:

...Thomas H. Kean... said he was surprised and disappointed that the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, the CIA, the FBI and several other executive-branch agencies had failed to respond to requests made two months ago for updated information on the government's anti-terrorism programs. The requests came not from the disbanded commission, which was created by Congress and had subpoena powers, but from its shadow group, which the members call the 9/11 Public Discourse Project...

The real headline should therefore read: "Unofficial shadow group ignored by all." Which really isn't news, is it?

---

Another headline reads: "March supports 'right to vote'".

...Civil rights groups fear conservatives will try to modify two key provisions of the [Voting Rights Act]... Activists also used the rally to protest Georgia's recently passed voter identification law, which critics call the most restrictive in the country. NAACP President Gordon on Saturday called the law "the most outrageous, oppressive, discriminatory" law he'd ever seen...

What isn't mentioned? The just-released report from the American Center for Voting Rights entitled, "Vote Fraud, Intimidation & Suppression In The 2004 Presidential Election."

Without even mentioning the Democrats' infamous corpse, felon, multi-state and non-existent person voting blocs, the report's summary reads:

...While Democrats routinely accuse Republicans of voter intimidation and suppression, neither party has a clean record on the issue. Instead, the evidence shows that Democrats waged aggressive intimidation and suppression campaigns against Republican voters and volunteers in 2004... a careful review of the facts shows that in 2004, paid Democrat operatives were far more involved in voter intimidation and suppression efforts than their Republican counterparts... Examples include: * NAACP National Voter Fund worker in Ohio paid crack cocaine in exchange for a large number of fraudulent voter registration cards in names of Dick Tracy, Mary Poppins and other fictional characters. * Former ACORN worker said there was “a lot of fraud committed” by group in Florida, as ACORN workers submitted thousands of fraudulent registrations in a dozen states across the country, resulting in a statewide investigation of the group in Florida and multiple indictments and convictions of ACORN/Project Vote workers for voter registration fraud in several states. * Misleading telephone calls made by Democrat operatives targeting Republican voters in Ohio with the wrong date for the election and faulty polling place information. * Intimidating and deceiving mailings and telephone calls paid for by the DNC threatening Republican volunteers in Florida with legal action. * Union-coordinated intimidation and violence campaign targeting Republican campaign offices and volunteers resulting in a broken arm for a GOP volunteer in Florida. * Paid Democrat operatives charged with slashing tires of 25 Republican get-out-the-vote vans in Milwaukee on the morning of Election Day. * Joint task force in Wisconsin found “clear evidence of fraud in the Nov. 2 election in Milwaukee,” including more than 200 felon voters, more than 100 double voters and thousands more ballots cast than voters recorded as having voted in the city.

Read the Executive Summary to get a quick insight into the real voter intimidation practices that no one seems to be protesting or reporting.

---

Here's one last example of pure, unbiased coverage. The headline reads, "Does Bush Loyalty Cloud His Judgment?". Subtitled 'President's actions raising some doubts', what example of Bush's unflinching loyalty does the author's analysis raise? Karl Rove? Donald Rumsfeld? Paul Wolfowitz? Uhmmm, no, none of the above. Someone far, far more important:

Former [baseball] commissioner Fay Vincent wasn't surprised when President Bush supported embattled Baltimore Orioles slugger Rafael Palmeiro after Palmerio tested positive for steroids by saying the star first baseman was a trusted friend.

Isn't the unbiased media great? They'd never take a cheap shot at a sitting president over his casual remark about a troubled baseball player, would they?

---

Average Circulation of U.S. Daily Newspapers (Editor and Publisher Yearbook data)

The mainstream media's thinly disguised, Bush-bashing agenda is so obvious and so transparent, it's almost humorous.

If it were any more tilted, most op-ed columns would have the bylines of Moore, Fonda, and Streisand, while the wire-service reports would be culled straight from the pages of Al Jazeera.

Come to think of it, that's pretty much equivalent to what's happening now. Consider the likes of Richard Cohen, Tom Teepen, and Maureen Dowd... combined with wire-service reports from the all-star squad of Reuters (or "Al Reuters," I think is the term they prefer), the AP, and the BBC.

And the editors and publishers still wonder why newspaper subscription rates are sinking faster than the Titanic after it slammed into the iceberg.