Sharp as a Marble - Bias? What bias?

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Bias? What bias?

Guns. Lots of Guns.

Why is it that you always see stories like this?

The Mecklenburg County District Attorney will now decide if a McDonald's employee will face charges for shooting and killing a robbery suspect.

The employee did shoot, but the robber is only suspected. Why don't they write "A McDonald's employee is suspected of shooting and killing a robbery suspect"? Why is someone walking into a store, pulling a gun and demanding money considered a suspect yet the person who shoots the criminal is practically charged with manslaughter?

posted @ 1/26/2007 10:54:09 PM

Comments

mgroves says:

on 1/26/2007 11:33:26 PM

An important thing to consider here is that the writer probably didn't even think about it when they were writing it. This is why one of my fundamental beliefs is that *everything* is biased, even if the author is genuinely interested in being unbiased.

Robb Allen says:

on 1/27/2007 7:22:07 PM

M, you're correct. If you report on a car that explodes, then you're biased thinking that all the other cars that didn't explode aren't a good story.

So, bias is automatic.

The part where I like blogs over MSM is that bloggers generally wear their bias on their sleeves so you can tell where they're coming from and filter the information correctly.

This isn't to say you cannot report a story better, it's just that your natural biases are going to temper your words.

Me? I'd have written "ASSHOLE GETS WHAT HE DESERVES BY McDONALD'S HERO", and hence why I'm not an editor at any newspaper.

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