The Washington Post Metro section headline seems to tell a story: “Virginia taxes yield $311 million surplus.”
Odd, though: Virginia’s legislators didn’t raise taxes; they cut spending. The article, thankfully, reveals this, reporting that there was “no general tax increase” and “hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts.”
But if you just read the headline and moved on, you might have been misled.
Later that day, CNN charges Congresswoman Michele Bachmann with “again” characterizing “a settlement to black farmers as fraud.” No explanation as to why. Then CNN presents John Boyd (or Dr. John Boyd?), president of the National Black Farmers Association.
Boyd denies all talk of fraud. “I just don’t understand why people like Ms. Bachmann … have continued to criticize this settlement,” he explains, before figuring it might be to “divide and conquer America.”
Rep. Bachmann is shown saying 94,000 people were given settlement money even though the census showed only 18,000 black farmers. But CNN avoids that obvious math problem. CNN also neglects the testimony of Jimmy Dismuke, a black farmer who claims the lawyers told potential plaintiffs that “if you had a potted plant, you can be a farmer.”
Then CNN anchor Kyra Phillips asks, “Do you feel that she’s racist?”
Boyd responds, “She’s going to have a hard time proving to America that she’s not racist if she continues to make these kinds of comments.”
Media folks are going to have trouble proving to America that they don’t slant the news.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
4 replies on “A Surplus of Slant”
First they ignore.
Then they ridicule.
Then they attack.
Then you win.
_Ghandi
Wonder if ANYONE in the media is uncomfortable that they are doing for Presbo the job that Goebbels did for that German guy, who ALSO started out as a socialist.
‘Course, that ended well.
RE: Dirk, i agree; but we have (unless such great Americans like US Senator Leibowitz- who likes the ideas- as done inn Egypt- as shutting down the Internet- succeed)- the Internet and alternative news sources.
Look at THE NEW YORK TIMES- there “news:” is so slanted, and their circualtion,e tc sinking, that they ahd to sell theri building to Carlos Slim of Mexico; a share of a sports team, etc.
The people- I THINK– to an extent- are catching on the media reflects theri views, not the enws.
Jya
That is still the agenda. Like the jihadist that kept going for the twin towers, the lib/progs do not want unfettered information, ergo the continued attempts at the Fairness Doctrine.
In the interim, they have managed to do an end run around the intransigence by subcontracting out content generating to companies whose job it is to fill web blogs and comment sections with commments that give the impression that there are large diverse groups of people that hold a particular opinion. Whether or not this sways the bulk of people is not clear. What is clear is that it sways some people and gives an erroneous impression to goverernment representative of what people really think.
Wonder if that’s why Presbo camne out with that corker that 80% of Americans are wanting higher taxes. Expect if that is true that 50% of the folks that polled such are the 50% that don’t pay any income taxes, and that the other 30% are a mix of lib/progs and made up numbers.