Media Bias

There has been a lot of uproar recently, especially during the election, about the role of the media. Most people generally accept that the media in general leans to the left. But to what extent does this affect the information that the general public? Well here is a perfect example of the extent to which the news agencies opinion can be used to change to tone of the article. Rumsfeld was recently asked a question by soldier out of the U.S. National Guard. This is how the mainstream media reported it:

CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait - After delivering a pep talk designed to energize troops preparing to head for Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld got a little “talking to” himself from disgruntled soldiers. But a Pentagon spokesman characterized the exchange, about a shortage of armed vehicles, as “upbeat.”

While a soldier at the meeting with Rumsfeld gave a different account:

Almost immediately after returning to camp yesterday after the visit by the SECDEF, I did a google news search and read the AP Wire article and noted that, although the piece was fairly accurate, there was definitely a sense of exaggeration in the tone that presented the townhall meeting as a gripe session. As one of the soldiers in the audience, I felt that presenting the morning in such a fashion was misleading, and with such negative connotations, I wondered how long it may be before the MSM ran with the story and turned a pleasant morning with the Secretary of Defense into a scenario that resembled a defendant being cross-examined by the prosecution in a court room. I knew the story was generating heavy circulation when I saw it headlined on Drudge [today].

And now we hear that a reporter, Edward Lee Pitts, had brought his own soldiers to the press conference. The soldiers were not with the regiment that was just arriving. It even sounds as though he coached the soldiers on what to say, possibly exsaggerating the example of digging through the trash for metal. This is a perfect example of how far some journalists will go to get their stories printed. If it had not been for the prepared question for Rumsfeld by the reporter, this press conference would not have even made the news. Pitts cares nothing about the actual truth of the events, he cares nothing about the facts, he just wants to be sure that what is published is casting doubt on the war. Update: The editor, Tom Griscom, apparently had some problems with the story also (I am quite surprised he chose to voice his opinion in public). This is part of what he said:

"He is there to write stories, not make news himself," Griscom said of Pitts. He said Pitts' story on the incident, which ran Thursday, should have included an explanation of how the embed, barred from questioning Rumsfeld himself during an appearance in Kuwait Wednesday, convinced a Tennessee national guardsman to pose the question.