Bias, Bias Everywhere as Media Ponder Pontiff
There is just no way one person can cover the amount of media bias being heaped into the coverage of Pope Benedict's visit to
Sunday, April 13:
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The New York Times headline read “Hard-Liner with Soft Touch Reaches out to U.S. Flock.” Clay Waters noted that the Times condescendingly suggested that while the Pope has some admirable qualities, his reputation for “doctrinal hardness” is hard to digest.
ABC's World News Sunday anchor Dan Harris also used the “hard-liner” label and said the Pope was “sometimes controversial.” MRC's Brad Wilmouth noted that Harris said the pontiff had a “tin ear” because a 2006 speech he made in which he quoted a historical figure who labeled Islam “evil.”
Monday, April 14:
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The “hard-liner” chorus continued with CBS's Early Show. Kyle Drennen documented that both anchor Harry Smith and reporter Allen Pizzey labeled the theologically conservative Pope as a “hardliner.” Pizzey also called the Pope “God's Rottweiler.” Following the Pizzey segment anchor Julie Chen brought in a left-wing priest to comment on the Pope's visit.
Dan Harris, back on ABC World News with Charles Gibson, used the liberals' call for women priests to show why “just over 60 percent of U.S. Catholics think the Church is out of touch.” He interviewed a woman from a “liberal church” in
Tuesday, April 15:
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The
It bears mentioning that all of this coverage –and bias – came before Pope Benedict even set foot on American soil or uttered one word of the reported 11 speeches he will deliver over the course of his stay in the
Kristen Fyfe is senior writer at the Culture and Media Institute, a division of the