IS MEDIA BIAS REAL?

Well, of course it’s real. The New York Times is left. The New York Post is right. FOX strongly right. MSNBC strongly left. Big city newspapers are invariably liberal. Rural papers generally right. It’s always been this way. Since colonial times, newspapers were decidedly partisan. In 1722, sixteen-year-old Benjamin Franklin wrote opinion pieces critical of both church and state for his brother’s newspaper, The New-England Courant. Newspapers in the fledgling American Republic during the 1790s, made no pretense at objectivity; the Federalist newspapers and the anti-Federalist newspapers bashed each other with vitriol and personal attacks.

We get that.

What rankles, however, is when newspapers pass off opinions as objective news.

Like this.

The Denver Post, May17, 2025. In the “News Briefs” section.

Headline: Teen sentenced to probation in fatal crash

A teenager who pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in the death of a 24-year-old woman in Aurora was sentenced to two years of probation, according to CBS Colorado.

Probation doesn’t seem like a fitting punishment for killing someone. The family of the victim, Kaitlyn Weaver, objected to the plea deal. Not only did they lose their daughter, but they are burdened with one million dollars in medical bills because the teen did not have insurance.

So, where’s the bias? Right here.

Weaver’s family told CBS she was driving home from work in July when a 15-year-old boy - who is living in the country illegally – crashed into her at 90 miles per hour in an Aurora neighborhood. She was taken off life support two days later.

The headline of this news brief should have led with the most salient point of the incident.

Fifteen-year-old illegal kills young woman in speeding car

Or

Another victim of an illegal alien killed in car crash

The New York Post covered it differently.

A 15-year-old illegal immigrant who killed a Colorado drug rehab worker in a high-speed crash in a residential neighborhood was given a slap on the wrist by a Democratic prosecutor, endorsed by several prominent party members.

American Military News described a video of the incident this way:

Illegal immigrant teen sentenced to probation after causing fatal crash

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SUBSTACK SIDEBAR

Sidebars are in the category of, And on a related note… Opinion pieces should tightly focus on a single message. Too many ideas, concepts and statistics distract from the main point and weaken its impact. Although these ideas are peripheral to the main point, they are also relevant.

Here’s one.

Kaitlyn Weaver is another young woman killed by the Democrat’s open border policy. Every time they told us, “the border is secure,” it was wide open - and they knew it. Say her name, Joe Biden. Say her name Border Czar, Kamala Harris. Say her name Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas. You are all complicit in her death.

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