A bounty of bias

Matthew Hoy
By Matthew Hoy on September 5, 2004

As I read the "old media" Web sites -- newspapers, broadcast networks, wire services -- I'm increasingly angered and dismayed by onesidedness, lies and double standards.

First, there was last Friday's initial AP report on a Bush speech where the president wished former President Bill Clinton a speedy recovery from open heart surgery. The AP reported that the crowd lustily booed the well-wishes.

WEST ALLIS, Wis. - President Bush on Friday wished Bill Clinton "best wishes for a swift and speedy recovery." "He's is in our thoughts and prayers," Bush said at a campaign rally. Bush's audience of thousands in West Allis, Wis., booed. Bush did nothing to stop them.

There were broadcast reporters there and thus audio and video of the event -- there were no boos. The AP eventually issued a correction, but this isn't mistakenly misspelling someone's name. This is alleging something happened that did not and then smearing President Bush for doing nothing about it.

This is the same thing Jayson Blair did. The same thing Stephen Glass did. The same thing Jack Kelley did.

All of them lost their jobs. The AP needs to do similar housekeeping.

And the hits just keep on coming ... the guys over at Powerline point out another AP report that purports to debunk Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Republican National Convention speech where he talked about growing up with Soviet tanks in his Austrian homeland. The problem? Well, if you read the text of Schwarzenegger's speech, it turns out that no debunking actually occurs. Schwarzenegger's statements were completely accurate.

And the hits just keep on coming ... the New England Republican shares the New York Times' response to a reader who complained about the blackout on Sen. John Kerry's Christmas in Cambodia story.

And finally, Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday, in the "Below the Fold" segment of the broadcast, pointed out this article by the New York Times last Friday that checked the statements in President Bush's nomination acceptance speech against the Times version of the "facts."

Wallace noted that the idea for such a story was apparently a new one -- the Times hadn't done a similar story after Kerry's speech last month.

Mr. Okrent might want to make a note of it.

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