So I head out to the driveway this morning to get the news the old fashioned way. Picking up the paper in the driveway. I expect the Bush veto of the SCHIP bill will be a top story. You would think you would see a headline reflecting how Bush is going against the will of the public with the veto. That presents a problem for the "balanced" Los Angeles Times. As Stephen Colbert has said, sometimes facts have a liberal bias. So the headline for the Times top story about the veto reads...
Child Health Veto Risky To Both Parties
The story (which really didn't reflect the headline that was in the paper edition) jumped to another page. The headline there...
Bush's Veto Poses Risks To Both Parties
Well there goes the Democrats again. Taking the bold risk of siding with 70% of the public.
Oh how the Los Angeles Times has fallen. We can't just state the reality that Bush is taking a political risk by his veto. We have to have risk parity. Funny how a former editor of the Times, Michael Kinsley, gave one of the best illustrations of the fallacy of this type of reporting.
The biggest problem is — and I don’t know what the solution is, so it’s not a criticism, as much as it is a puzzle — is that the conventions of objectivity make it very difficult to say that something is a lie. And they require balance, which is often just not justified by reality. The classic thing is the Swift Boats. If you follow what all the papers say, they inch close to saying what they really think by saying, "it’s controversial," or "many have challenged it," euphemisms like that. And then they always need to pair it with something else. "Candidate X murdered three people at a rally yesterday, and candidate Y sneezed without using a Kleenex. This is why many people are saying this is the roughest campaign ever."
The headline also has the element of EIAGFR.
Everything Is Always Good For Republicans
Glenn Greenwald best identified this syndrome.
There is this bizarre syndrome where Republicans claim that every event is good for them, pundits echo that, and Democrats internalize it to the point of being paralyzed with fear. If there is no terrorist attack, that helps Republicans because it shows Bush is protecting us. If there is a terrorist attack, that helps Republicans because it makes Americans focus on terrorism again. If Osama bin Laden is silent, that helps Republicans because it shows he has to hide. If he releases a video tape, that helps Republicans because it puts the focus back on terrorism. Bush supporters and pundits, in unison, will insist that virtually every issue is a win-win politically for the Republicans, even as Republicans suffer political collapse.
The Los Angeles Times frequently produces headlines (and stories) like this. Competing with internet sources and 24 hour cable news, they have to produce a fresh take on the news. Even if the headline relies on lousy journalistic techniques and doesn't reflect reality, it will be used. It has frequently worked with my morning coffee to startle me awake.