The wonderfully talented writer and blogger Don Surber brings us this example of how the media spins its news stories to make sure that the people get the right idea (or is that the left idea?) about the investigations of two members of Congress -- one Democrat, the other Republican -- for similar alleged offenses involving real estate transactions.

AP described the organization that investigated Mollohan as “a conservative group.”

AP described the organization that investigated Murkowski as “a watchdog group” in its lead paragraph and “a government and ethics watchdog group” in its third paragraph.

Of course, in each instance, AP was describing the National Legal and Policy Center.

When a Democratic congressman’s financial records are scrutinized, the National Legal and Policy Center is “a conservative group.”

But when it goes after a Republican, why it is “a government and ethics watchdog group.”

Thanks for making the distinction clear, AP.

Of course we see this stuff all the time. The ACLU is a "civil liberties group" while the ACLJ and ADF, which are equally concerned with civil liberties, are "conservative" or "right-wing" legal groups. But never have we been presented with such a clear example of bias -- the label changing depending on who the group is targetting.

Posted by: Greg at 03:00 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 221 words, total size 2 kb.