Home
Media Bias Outrage/Week
Outrage of the Month
Outrage Archive
On The Offensive
On The Offensive Archive
Hot Topic Links
Special Features
Activism
Press Releases
Rolodex
Activist Handbook
Thread Archive
Identify Media Bias
Mission Statement
Guestbook
Contact Us

02/04/2002
The Washington Post and NPR gave what almost passes for admissions of bias this week. Read on for more on these amazing developments:

The first admission comes from Washington Post ombudsman Michael Getler. Reader complaints forced his response in his January 27 column.

"Most of my mail and calls this week came from a dozen or so readers angered by a Jan. 17 Federal Page article on the president's new Bioethics Council by science reporter Rick Weiss. Among the comments were that they viewed it as 'highly objectionable' editorializing and 'a form of demagoguery by The Post.' Readers raised several points, but the one that no one missed was this comparison: 'In November, researchers announced that they had made the first human embryo clones, giving immediacy to warnings by religious conservatives and others that science is no longer serving the nation's moral will. At the same time, the United States was fighting a war to free a faraway nation from the grip of religious conservatives who were denounced for imposing their moral code on others.'

"Rick Weiss is an excellent and authoritative science reporter, but I'm with the readers on this one. The article comes across has having been written from a point of view, and nothing can distract readers more from the work of reporters with real expertise than a real or perceived bias in the telling of their stories."

Bravo to the Post readers who expressed their objections! We appreciate Mr. Getler's attempt to set things right, even though he was perceptably weaselly with his comment about "real or perceived bias".

Our next culprit is none other than NPR! David Kestenbaum gave this report on the January 22 Morning Edition:

"Two of the anthrax letters were sent to Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy, both Democrats. One group who had a gripe with Daschle and Leahy is the Traditional Values Coalition, which before the attacks, had issued a press release criticizing the Senators for trying to remove the phrase 'so help me God' from the oath. . . The Traditional Values Coalition, however, told me the FBI had not contacted them and then issued a press release saying NPR was in the pocket of the Democrats and trying to frame them. But investigators are thinking along these lines. FBI agents won't discuss the case, but the people they have spoken with will."

A week later, this statement was read on the January 29 Morning Edition:

"A story last week about the ongoing anthrax investigation mentioned the Traditional Values Coalition, whom we called to ask if they had been contacted by the FBI. They said they had not since there is no evidence that they were or should be investigated. It was inappropriate to name them on the air."

Jim Burns of CNSNews.com further noted that "Rev. Lou Sheldon, Chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition wasn't impressed with NPR's statement. 'They have not apologized, neither have they retracted, neither have they said they were sorry. They have simply tried to further distance themselves from the wrong that they have done.'"

Undoubtedly, NPR's statement was more of a near miss than an admission, yet considering the source, it seems miraculous!

Kestenbaum's hideous smear and the ridiculous parallels drawn by the Washington Post writer were subjects of a column by MRC President Brent Bozell entitled "Those Dastardly Fundamentalists". The article in the Post was also the target of a Media Reality Check from MRC entitled, "Afghanistan's Murderous Taliban = U.S.A.'s 'Religious Conservativees.' Post reporter Bends Over Backwards to Slam Conservatives."

Read more here: