When The Vaunted Editing Process Breaks Down
If your head feels like it's spinning, don't be surprised (Don Erler, Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
But because newspapers separate the "news hole" from the opinion pages, and because they carefully label "opinions" and "analysis," some readers might be less attentive to spinning in news stories.
Two additional examples come from Thursday's paper. In the first, a Washington Post story reported that "House Republicans are pushing to cut tens of thousands of legal immigrants off food stamps, partially reversing President Bush's efforts to win Latino votes by restoring similar cuts made in the 1990s."
Notice that a motive is attributed to Bush's previous actions ("to win Latino votes"). How does the Post know this? It doesn't say.
Notice also that "similar cuts were made in the 1990s." Why not substitute "during the Clinton administration" for the time designation? I'll bet that sharp readers will have figured this out.
A final example is a Knight Ridder News Service story about Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. According to James Kuhnhenn and Steven Thomma (the authors of this news report), "moderates in both parties have voiced reservations, especially at his stance on abortion."
The specific case cited was Alito's appellate court vote to permit Pennsylvania to require a woman to inform her husband before getting an abortion. The story did not mention that a "judicial bypass" was part of Pennsylvania's law or that Alito has (according to data available at findlaw.com) ruled in favor of women seeking abortions in three of four high-profile cases in which he has ruled.
But who is a "moderate"? What does that heavily laden word mean? Given that only the Pennsylvania case is cited in this story, does that imply that "moderates" favor abortion rights? Are all pro-life citizens immoderate -- that is, "extreme"?
Readers expect spin in opinion writing. We also get it elsewhere.
That sort of thing is so common -- especially at newspapers like the Chronicle, where the editing is especially weak -- that it's hardly worth the effort (to me) to point it out anymore. Not that it's not useful when others make the effort. :)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/08/05 23:10 | Media Matters | Technorati
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