This from CNN, via Media Matters; CNN correspondent Elaine Quijano spoke on the naming of Bush’s new policy:

Democrats are seeking to cast a surge as an escalation of the unpopular Iraq war.

That from within a piece that is otherwise balanced–but this characterization near the beginning of the piece shows either bias or incredibly poor reporting. A reporter should be as unbiased as possible, casting the events reported on in as neutral and objective a light as possible.

With this story, both the words “escalation” and “surge” are political buzzwords; in both cases, politicians are “casting” the proposed policy in a way that sounds favorable to their agenda. But Quijano states the issue in such a way that makes Bush’s buzzword sound like the accepted neutral term, while it is the Democrats who are playing politics with language–when in fact, Bush was the first to inject politics into the wording.

An objective reporter would have said this:

Both Republicans and Democrats are seeking to cast the president’s new approach to the unpopular Iraq war in ways that suit their interests. President Bush and some Republicans are calling the troop increase a “surge”; Democrats responded by calling it an “escalation.”

The thing is, wording like Quijano’s very much colors people’s perception of who is right and who is wrong, who is serious, and who is playing politics. Since most of the piece is balanced and the bias is subtle enough to slide under most people’s radar, it has an even stronger ability to sway opinions than an editorial piece, which many people automatically discount for bias.

Quijano’s example of media bias, however, is the kind of thing that goes on all the time. If it were simply a matter of chance, it would favor liberal and conservative interests equally. The thing is, it seems to be quite lopsided in favor of conservative interests–though who knows, maye that’s my own bias speaking. But whatever the direction of the tilt, all of us should be alert to and aware of such subtle bias, and be ready to discount for that bias in straight reporting as well as in editorial speech–a boundary, by the way, which is becoming increasingly blurred in today’s “news” media.