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Bias Pervasive in MSM Reporting - an Example

Hindrocket over at Powerline has a good article exposing deep bias and conflict of interest on the part of an Associated Press reporter. As I read it I recalled today’s AP article, Kerry Rips Bush on 'Mission Accomplished' Remark, and noted an interesting pattern.

First, as pointed out by LGF, Kerry criticized Bush in a somewhat deperate manner:

Kerry, expressed outrage … "I will never be a president who just says mission accomplished. I will get the mission accomplished," said the Massachusetts senator. "That's the difference."

While the article noted that Bush never used the phrase “mission accomplished” the criticism was presented postively due to “a prominent banner directly behind the president” that bore the words. No response to Kerry’s criticism by the Bush campaign was reported.

The article continues to describe the Kerry and Bush preparations for the upcoming depates. Here is what was reported about the statement made by Kerry’s campaign:

"It's a remote area where we can concentrate and focus and still get out to talk to voters as much as possible," said Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter. … She said she expects Bush will try to pin the flip-flopper label on Kerry as the president has done during his campaign.

No reporter commentary was added. The article reported what was fed by the Kerry campaign including the nasty way Bush will try to pin a label on Kerry. Here Cutter is preemptively managing Bush's future criticism of Kerry's soft spot - his inconsistency. This is not pointed out in the article which is "fair enough". The reporter's opinion should not get in the way of representing the candidate's message.

However, when it came to presenting the words of the Bush camp, reporter commentary was used to neutralize the subsequent message.

The Bush team was eager to manage expectations. White House communications director Dan Bartlett talked up Kerry's experience as a debater, citing his 20 years in the Senate and his participation on his prep school's debate team.

While managing expectations may have been been Bartlett's goal, why report it in the case of the Republicans but not the Democrats, especially in an article that is already critical of Bush?

Thus, we have an AP article that quotes Kerry’s somewhat bizarre criticism of Bush without a response. The message from Kerry’s campaign, including criticism of Bush, is carried forward without a response. The message from the Bush camp is predicated by the reporter’s negative opinion of the Republicans’ motivation for making their statement.

The article is a disguised editorial, presented “objectively”, to lend credibility to the reporter’s opinion.

Posted by tim at September 26, 2004 11:45 PM

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