From: session@seq.uncwil.edu (Zack C. Sessions)
Subject: Re: Media bias
Organization: Univ. of North Carolina @ Wilmington
Distribution: usa
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1992 22:07:59 GMT

jmc@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (John McCarthy) writes:

|Here are some opening paragraphs of Clarinet U.P. stories of the last
|few days.  I have inserted *s to mark some of the places where I think
|Chip Switzer's grumbles about bias are confirmed.
|
|	     GARFIELD, N.J. (UPI) -- President Bush, *virtually
|     ignoring the recession*, attempted Tuesday to push the
|     Democratic Party off its centrist platform, telling
|     conservative audiences that his opposition is intent on
|     reviving the big government ``liberal agenda'' on social
|     issues.
|	     ``The family is under siege and the choices in this
|     election are clear,'' Bush said at a gathering at the Three
|     Saints Russian Orthodox Church. ``On one side (are) the
|     advocates of the liberal agenda, on the other side are you
|     and I and those values of family that we share.''
|
|Bush wasn't talking about the recession, so the reporter or rewrite man
|puts in what he wants to call the public's attention to.

I think the point the writer could have been that he was trying to convey
that Bush WASN'T talking about the recession, especially when one considers
that when over 70% of persons recently polled consider the economy THE number
one issue currently in the campaign.

Since Bush is apparently unable to make any claims of real gains he has made
in office, the only thing he can to is try an attack his opponent. He is
absurd in calling Clinton a "liberal". Jackson and Brown are liberal. Clinton
is a hell of lot more moderate than they are. And Bush is also questioning
Clinton's very own family values, which is also way off base.

|	     GARFIELD, N.J. (UPI) -- President Bush made a direct
|     appeal Tuesday for the support of so-called Reagan
|     Democrats, *touting* his achievement in ending the Cold War
|     and promising a stronger, revitalized nation.
|	     Speaking outside the Three Saints Russian Orthodox
|     Church, Bush discussed his ``Captive Nations Proclamation,''
|     which heralds the Eastern European nations that shook off
|     Communist Party rule during his first term in office.
|	     ``Think about it,'' Bush said. ``If we can tear down
|     the Berlin Wall, we can build a strong economy, and if we
|     can lift that Iron Curtain, we can bring the curtain down on
|     immorality and indifference and lawlessness.''
|
|"tout" is a verb generally used negatively.  It is derived from
|race  track touts who tell you what horse will win in the hopes
|of getting a tip from you if it does win.  See if you can find
|a U.P. story describing Clinton as touting something.

The press quite frequently uses the word touting. While you are close in
your description of the word's etymology, my Webster's dictionary has the
first definition of the word as "to praise highly", or, IMHO, when referring
to oneself, to brag. I would not say that it is generally used negatively.

It is also interesting to note that in this instance, Bush appears to be
claiming that if not for him, the Berlin Wall would still be a reality and
the Communists would still be in control in the former Soviet Union. This
could not be further from the truth. The PEOPLE in GERMANY were responsible
for tearing down the Berlin Wall. The PEOPLE in the former Soviet Union were
responsible for the fall of the Communists. President Bush was NOT.

|	     MADRID, Spain (UPI) -- From the Pyrenees to Tierra
|     del Fuego, free- market economics have been embraced by
|     Spanish- and Portugese-speaking countries, with the
|     exception of Cuba, as the way to development and out of
|     poverty.
|	     *But so far free-market policies have made little
|     headway in ending the poverty and unemployment* that
|     continues to plague the majority of Ibero-Americans.

You made no comment here. Care to?

|	     WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The administration, facing
|     continuing defiance from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein,
|     warned Wednesday that it may take military action against
|     the *ravaged* country to force its compliance with U.N.
|     resolutions.
|
|"ravaged" is gratuitous here.  The meaning of the sentence
|wouldn't be changed by leaving it out, but the reporter wants
|to single out the harm that has been done to Iraq and ignore
|the harm that Iraq has done.

From this tiny excerpt from what is probably a more comprehensive report
on the current situation in Iraq. And could it possibly be that one reason
why Iraq is currently "ravaged" is the fault of Saddam Hussein not agreeing
with the UN requirements which have forced the economic sanctions against
his country to stay in place? Also, every news report I have seen in the
past few months indicate that Iraq truely is ravaged.

|	     WASHINGTON (UPI) -- President Bush discussed his
|     *flagging* re-election campaign Wednesday with a group of
|     Senate Republican leaders who came away convinced that he
|     will retain Vice President Dan Quayle on the ticket.
|	     Senate GOP whip Alan Simpson of Wyoming told
|     reporters ``don't be absurd'' when they asked if Quayle
|     might be replaced as Bush's running mate. Simpson was
|     reportedly designated by the so-called ``Wednesday Group''
|     of moderate-liberal Republicans to discuss the ticket with
|     Bush.
|
|It is common to describe the Republicans as about to lose.  The
|reporters evidently think that will help the Democrats via a
|bandwagon effect - or maybe it's just wishful thinking.

Republicans about to lose? Where do you read that? Flagging campaign merely
means he is dropping in the polls, which he most certainly IS. As soon as
the Republicans have their convention and his campaign gets a lift from it,
they will then surely report his "surging campaign".
-- 
Zack Sessions
sessions@seq.uncwil.edu
University of North Carolina at Wilmington
"Good health is merely the slowest form of dying."
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