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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Huckleberries Online

HBO — to Any Mouse re: Reporter Bias

Any Mouse: "A person's world view/faith informs and colors all that they do. To the 90% of reporters and professors who are left of center, the idea that faith matters in ever aspect of life is simply goofy. They cannot understand my perspective, they want what the Soviets had -- a formal declaration of official atheism and an formal, official 'separation of Church and state.'"

DFO: First, you still need to substantiate that 90% figure. I saw a study that showed an overwhelming number of media types voted for John Kerry over George Bush. Secondly, there's no question in my mind that a good number of editors and reporters are moderate-to-left. And they tend to line up on the same side on such social issues as abortion, gay rights, church-state separation, etc. And that affects coverage and play. The L.A. Times did an in-depth study a decade or so ago (I still have the hard copy) that shows how biased abortion coverage is -- from simple labels like pro-choice (positive) to anti-abortion (negative, because of the "anti") to the characterization of individuals involved in protests. Having said all of this, however, the media are comprised of individuals with a variety of backgrounds that aren't as easily pidgeon-holed on the majority of subjects. And most of them try to sublimate their bias.



Huckleberries Online

D.F. Oliveria started Huckleberries Online on Feb. 16, 2004. Oliveria's Sunday print Huckleberries is a past winner of the national Herb Caen Memorial Column contest.