More proof the AP and the mainstream media is slanted to the right..

[Stuart G]

This story is on the AP wires now....I found it at Yahoo...see for yourself...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080731/ap_on_go_co/stevens


Stevens gets chance to clear name before election ...headline...

By MATT APUZZO and LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON - Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens pleaded not guilty to corruption charges Thursday and received an unusually speedy trial date, which {bold face..mine} he hopes will clear his name before voters consider re-electing him in November.


Stevens, a Capitol Hill bulldozer accustomed to winning political battles, wrangled control of the normally sluggish judicial process. The Senate's longest-serving Republican faces a tough re-election fight and made it clear Thursday that he does not want his seven-count indictment getting in the way.


______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Nice of them telling us that he hopes to..clear his name...
...Yes..He has been wrongfully accused and needs to clear his name..sure..let's see..here is another one..
..There is no snow in Alaska...

[SpiralHawk]

1. God didn't make little green apples

...and it don't rain in Indianapolis...

[SteppingRazor]

2. I gotta say, I see zero slant in that.

:shrug:

The article's just pointing out that Stevens has been given a speedy trial in an effort to put this out of the way before we get too deep into election season. I think it's an important point to make. Yeah, the fact that Stevens wants to clear his name is rather stating the obvious, but that part just serves as a transition to the meat, that this will be a speedy trial.

[EFerrari]

4. "Clearing his name" implies his name is honest and should be cleared. n/t

[SteppingRazor]

5. It does not imply that when it's led with "He hopes to ..."

because it then is not a statement on his actual guilt or innocence, but a statement on Stevens' intentions. And besides which, despite the preponderance of evidence he is, after all, still innocent at this time. (Hence the use of the term "allegedly" higher up in the piece.)

[EFerrari]

9. But why are we being regaled with the story of his hopes in the first place?

Why are we being asked to identify with him?

I have nothing against the man personally although he probably is a criminal but, yeah, this piece is slanted, imho.

[SteppingRazor]

11. It's superfluous, but not slanted.

I mean, of course he wants to clear his name. Who wouldn't? I think it's a bit of a waste of space, particularly for a wire story, but I wouldn't call it slanted.

[EFerrari]

14. I wonder if there is time, money or room for supefluity in print

nowadays. :)

What he hopes or wants is not a fact. The statement asks you to walk in his shoes.

Saying, "Stevens will argue that . . ." or, "The defense takes the position that" is much more neutral, right? And could have communicated the same fact. The AP chose not to stay neutral.

I'm not a trained journalist but am trained in the 31 Flavors of how you choose to say the same thing. The AP chose to word it in a way that would coax the reader to take Stevens' viewpoint.

/ack chose -> choose

[SteppingRazor]

16. Like I said, regardless of how it's worded...

as an editor (and a trained journalist :P ), I would have just cut it. I suppose it could have been worded in a drier point-of-view, but I don't think that reflects a rightward slant in the AP so much as a need for more copy editing. (And you're quite right, there's not time, money or room for superfluity -- or damn near anything else -- these days.)

[EFerrari]

18. You're probably right in that respect.

When I put up the ER news, I'm often surprised at what "gets by" the editing staff. Even very common misspellings or misiterations that even dyslexic me picks up on.

(I forgot that I was arguing with a trained professional. That's me all over. lol :) )

[SteppingRazor]

20. Like I said, probably a lack of copy editing.

I don't know about the rest of the country, but here in South Florida, the news business is just in a staggering state of affairs. The Miami Herald, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Palm Beach Post have all laid off around 100 newsroom employees in the last few months. (And that's about 100 each, not total.) My own little altweekly is currently operating without a copy editor, and with a fairly skeletal staff above and beyond that. To hear the men in the corner offices tell it, advertising has not been this bad since the Great Depression.

[EFerrari]

21. DemocracyNow! had a segment on the imploding print media.

Maybe on Monday? It made me heartsick, actually. My own column was canceled before it started when the Chron had their first big layoff and cutback about three years ago. In all honesty, I have no idea why they're still in business.

There's all this talk about a new business model but no one really seems to have one that works. The industry owners still want their old profits and the ground ahead of them is dematerializing.

Chris Hedges (?) was one of the guests on that DemocracyNow! segment and he seemed to think the net encourages illiteracy and so, the not reading of newspapers. (That seems not right to me. People may want information faster but imho, the net has people reading and writing more than ever. You can't post to DU, for example, without doing both. You may not be very skilled at either but surely just the repetition ups your skill level to a certain extent . .)

Interesting times. Good luck, SteppingRazor.

[Stuart G]

6. Perhaps so...

But the minute I saw the headline..I said to myself..What is going on here? Why do they put the headline in a way that is favorable to him..Like he is some kinda victim..No proof ?
..Yes, a speedy trial is fair. The story itself may have some fairness in it. But I don't feel right about the headline.

[SteppingRazor]

7. To clarify, my comments wer eabout your OP before you added the headline...

I will agree that the headline is pretty misleading.

[EFerrari]

3. The sun will come up tomorrow!

:)

[HEyHEY]

8. Fuck off.

The amount of left leaning reporters I know compared to right is like 4 to 1.

[Stuart G]

10. It is the headline.. not the entire story if one read the entire story..

Many people just read that headline...the meat of the story farther down, seems less slanted. But the beginning seems to go much more easier on him...

..Only at the very end of the story do we see that this investigation has been going on for years...I wonder how many people know that??

Here is a quote from the end of this story...(bold face ..mine}

"His indictment is the culmination of an FBI investigation that for years has sent tremors through Alaska's political system. Several state lawmakers have been charged and others, including Stevens' son, Ben, remain under scrutiny."

[EFerrari]

12. The bias is almost subtle. His indictment has shaken all of AK

and involves his family. Heartstrings pulled. Check.

[Stuart G]

13. Another very ugly idea just came into mind...I will share it with you..

Perhaps this indictment was all part of a right wing deal to get this off the headlines ..before the election. Charge him, try him and let him go..a free man to win. This way the last 3 or 4 weeks or so, he can go around saying how cruel the government is in charaging him.. It was a witch hunt after an old man..
...The trial may be already fixed.....I sure hope not..

[EFerrari]

15. I put the same proposition to babylonsister earlier today.

I know my viewpoint is 'way out there on the Cynical Scale any more but, even so . . .

[Stuart G]

17. I agree with you, it is quite cynical..ugly..thinks the worst..

Of course..look at the last 7 years. stolen elections, war about oil, 500,000 deaths for oil, unreasonable searches, weapons of mass destruction..none..lies, lies, and more lies...oh..we do not have the right to be cynical..

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[EFerrari]

19. I know and even so, we need to at least attempt to stay balanced.

But if you told me Cheney was eating small children and setting fire to gas pumps, my tendency would be to believe the first report.
:(