Media Bias: Does it exist? - Part III
There is an old axiom in media tactics for shaping public opinion; it is called “assassination by insinuation.” That is, you don’t come right out and make an accusation, you simply imply it by the initial introduction to the story.
Sometimes the writer will claim ‘plausible deniability’ by quoting a defense of the victim during the closing lines of the story, but the damage has already been done. Few people read an article in its entirety and carefully. Most readers will catch the headline, then scan the first few paragraphs to get the essence of the story - thus the closing platitudes are virtually ignored.
During the height of the Aghan detainee controversy, such a tactic was employed by the Globe and Mail. Here we will quote the opening remarks in their entirety:
Human Rights not on radar of senior Tories, MacKay says
By ALAN FREEMAN
Friday, June 15, 2007 Page A4OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his leading ministers showed no apparent interest in the human-rights situation in Afghanistan until The Globe and Mail disclosed cases of possible detainee abuse in the country earlier this year.
What is the obvious implication of this lead? Clearly they are trying to convey that Prime Minister Harper, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay and the whole Conservative government could not care less about human rights. In fact the subject is “not on the radar of senior Tories, MacKay says.” There is little in the rest of the story to erase that initial impression created in the opening lines of the article.
In fact, the story was so imflammatory and biased that days later the Globe and Mail had to issue a retraction of their scintillating headline. Buried in the inside pages was the following tiny retraction:
CORRECTION
Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay did not say human rights are “not on the radar of senior Tories” as stated in a headline on Friday. What he said was that copies of human-rights reports are not normally sent to senior ministers.
But who’s going to notice that? The damage had already been done and the insinuations calculated to vilify Harper Conservatives had already left their impression on 100’s of 1000’s of readers. Dips in the polls are often easily explained by such media propaganda. It was not fair criticism, it was willful misrepresentation. It is shameful conduct from a major news outlet in this country.
