Bias in the News Media

I have written on this topic before. This 2017 article details the bias in coverage of recent events and how Senator Ted Kennedy had some very disturbing Russian collusion of his own. Here’s a quote from a memo from the head of the KGB to Yuri Andropov, the leader of the Soviet Union at the time:

“Senator Kennedy, like other rational people, is very troubled by the current state of Soviet-American relations. … The main reason for this is Reagan’s belligerence…”

Forbes printed an article in 2009 about Senator Kennedy’s 1983 contact with the Soviets, which referenced Tim Sebastian’s London Times 1992 article and Dr. Paul Kengor’s book The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism.

The Forbes article concluded “When President Reagan chose to confront the Soviet Union, calling it the evil empire that it was, Sen. Edward Kennedy chose to offer aid and comfort to General Secretary Andropov. On the Cold War, the greatest issue of his lifetime, Kennedy got it wrong.” Have you heard this before?

Read more of the details of Senator Kennedy’s collusion in the above article.

Not much has changed. Marvin Olasky, Editor-in-chief of WORLD News Group and the author of more than 20 books, writes about biased reporting of Karen Pence and the attendees of the January, 2019 March for Life in Washington, DC. He details the hate that the Vice President’s wife received from a CNN commentator and numerous others because she teaches at a Christian school that follows the Bible’s teaching on marriage and sexuality. So much for tolerance of religious freedom from people who pride themselves on tolerance.

USA Today reported that “more than a thousand anti-abortion activists” marched. Olasky writes that this is like saying that more than a thousand Allied soldiers fought on D-day (the actual number was 159,000). Typically the March for Life draws between 100,000 and 200,000 people.

The standard news media description of pro-lifers is anti-abortion. Pro-life means much more than opposing abortion. It means volunteering at crisis pregnancy centers, which provide baby items for moms who choose life for their unborn children. Pro-life people also promote adoption, the loving option for women who can’t or don’t want to raise their children, which is also heard at crisis pregnancy centers but not abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. This article describes the 2017 March for Life and the many ways pro-life people engage a sometimes hostile culture.

Olasky also quotes some mainstream media outlets who eventually criticized those who jumped all over a Catholic high schooler when a fifteen second video clip of him was shown. Those who attacked him, his school and the parents of the high schoolers had to backpedal (or should have) after a longer video showed more context. Among other things, it revealed the Native American activist in the picture had approached the students and not the other way around.

Bias against Christians and other people of faith and bias against pro-life people are two of the most common ways the mainstream media continues to get it wrong.

No wonder President Trump calls it fake news. Most of the time it’s not fake or lying but it certainly stretches the truth. Just ask the more than a thousand March for Life attendees or the families of more than a thousand soldiers who stormed the Normandy beaches.

Photo credit: Dale Murrish photo of the Supreme Court

Other articles

In previous blog posts, I began telling the story of my brain tumor and the depression which followed it. The second article in the series described my faith in God which sustained me through both trials.

Having recently started a word-by-word translation of Martin Luther’s Bible from German to English, I introduced the project and published Matthew Chapter 1 . Later I wrote commentary on it; my church background and theological training is in my USA Melting Pot bio.

Dale Murrish writes on history, travel, technology, religion, and politics for the USA Melting Pot club, LinkedIn and Troy Patch. Check out this non-profit club on their website. You can also see over a dozen ethnic presentations from people with firsthand knowledge under Culture & Country (right hand side), and outdoor presentations (Hobby & Fun), including posts on bicycling, skiing and camping.

Other interesting articles on the USA Melting Pot website have been written by Bilal Rathur on his hajj to Saudi Arabia (Part 6) and by Carl Petersen. Thanks to both of them for their contributions.