Anti-gun Bias At The Washington Post... Surprising?

Sailorcurt over at Captain Of A Crew Of One

Caught this gem of media bias-

Via Bitter, we discover this piece of...um...reportage...regarding [Virginia] Lobby day. Bitter's post focused on the anger of the anti-gun attendees which I commented upon in my original post; however, something different in the article caught my eye:

Hundreds of advocates flooded the state Capitol on Monday to urge the Virginia General Assembly to enact reforms on such issues as the environment, immigration and gun control.

...

Gun-control advocates, including survivors of the April 16 shooting rampage that took the lives of 32 victims at Virginia Tech, poured into a Senate committee meeting to support a bill that would require background checks for all gun-show sales. They then staged a "lie-in," lying on their backs outside the Capitol to draw attention to gun deaths in Virginia last year.

...

Many gun-rights activists also showed up at the committee meeting -- some wearing guns -- and came in force to watch the protest.

Notice the carefully crafted use of terms designed to give a visual of "hundreds" of anti-gun protesters "pouring" into the capital. And then the weak mention of "many gun-rights activists."

One is left with the distinct impression that the gun rights activists were in the minority.

This is prima facia evidence of the bias of the media in reporting. This piece was carefully crafted to paint a misleading picture. They didn't report anything factually inaccurate. In their account of "hundreds" they lumped the gun-control proponents together with environmentalists and other activists to maintain technical accuracy. No, it wasn't an outright lie, but this is a prime example of "spin." Carefully selecting phrases to paint a misleading or inaccurate picture.

Gun rights supporters outnumbered the anti-gun forces by AT LEAST two to one. Not only that, but the anti-gun groups freely admitted that they were actively busing people in from all over the state to bolster their numbers. Every gun rights activist that was there got there on their own motivation, on their own dime and of their own volition.

Media bias? What media bias?


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