One of the things you eventually learn in your college editing class is that the photos should reflect the story and vice versa. Both should also represent reality. Unfortunately, that's something that too many journalists occasionally forget when it comes to hot-button issues.

For example, long ago at Cal Poly SLO's Mustang Daily the editors sent a reporter out to cover the "Chain of life." The event typically occurs once a year, is typically sponsored by churches and involves people lining a street in support of life and opposition to abortion-on-demand. The chain typically runs for several miles along a major street.

The reporter and photographer sent to cover that event came back with pictures and a story. The pictures and story eventually made their way onto the front page of the paper. The story focused on fewer than 10 counter-protestors and the photo featured only those counter-protestors. People lined both sides of the street in opposition to abortion for miles -- and the impression you got from the "coverage" of the event didn't reflect that reality.

As Bill Cosby used to say: I told you that story so I could tell you this one.

Yesterday, for much of the day, a major American newspaper had the following story as the lead story on their Web site.

Onus on McCain to turn presidential race his way

(AP) -- One month before Election Day, Barack Obama sits atop battleground polls in a shrinking playing field, the economic crisis is breaking his way and he has made progress toward winning the White House.

The onus is on Republican John McCain to turn the race around under exceptionally challenging circumstances — and his options are limited.

McCain's advisers say the Arizona senator will ramp up his attacks in the coming days with a tougher, more focused message describing "who Obama is," including questioning his character, "liberal" record and "too risky" proposals in advertising and appearances.

Obama's advisers, in turn, say he will argue that McCain is unable to articulate an economic vision that's different from President Bush's. In a new push, the Illinois senator is calling McCain's health care plan "radical."

Now that the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin is over, the contest returns to being entirely about Obama and McCain and likely will stay that way until Nov. 4. The rivals meet Tuesday in their second of three debates.

...

Indeed, Palin wasted no time Saturday in Colorado, saying: "Our opponent ... is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country." It was a reference to Ayers, a founder of a 1960s radical group.

Set aside the fact that the Weather Underground was a terrorist group responsible for bombings and murder. Pretend you're the news editor and you've got to come up with a photo to go with this story. You want a photo of McCain or Palin to accompany this story. You want something timely, so today is better than yesterday.

You log on to the photo server and this is what pops up. (Sorry, thumbnails only)

You've got to pick just one to represent the story and tell readers something about what's happening today. Which one do you pick?

Follow the jump to see what this newspaper's online editor chose.

On a day when more than 10,000 people gathered to see Sarah Palin speak in Carson, Calif., the photo chosen to run most of the day Saturday on the homepage is of the 25-30 counter-protesters.

And many in the mainstream media wonder why they're not trusted and people are turning to alternative media sources. The answer is staring them in the face, but far too few recognize their bias for what it is.