Bias by Omission: Media Silent on Nationwide Pro-Life Protest, 'Gay' S&M Street Fair, National Boycott of Miller Beer

If a coordinated protest took place across the country on a single day you'd think major media outlets would cover it, right?  Thousands of people lining roads in communities from California to Florida should generate national headlines.

Such an event would generate headlines if the protest was against something the liberal media hated – like the war in Iraq.  But because it was a protest against abortion, there was nothing but silence from the national media. 

The Annual Life Chain is a national protest coordinated by members of the pro-life movement.  It is an event that is held every year in which people in communities across the country stand hand-in-hand to protest the murder of unborn children.  If you have ever driven by one of these protests you know it is a moving experience.

But the national media turned a blind eye to it. Again. A Google News and Nexis search showed the story was covered by hometown papers and local television stations, but the only “national” coverage was a wire story by Cox News Services.

Bias by omission is the liberal media's standard approach toward uncomfortable social issues.  Another case in point is the coverage of San Francisco's Folsom Street Fair, which took place September 30.  The Folsom Street Fair is an annual event celebrating the homosexual “leather” community, those who practice sadomasochism and bondage.  A few heterosexual leather fetishists participated this year as well.

Commonplace events at the fair include public nudity, public masturbation and homosexual sex acts, even bloody floggings, all in full view of the police, who maintain order but aren't allowed to arrest anybody.   

The Catholic League and several other Christian groups have organized a boycott of fair sponsor Miller Brewing Company, due to the offensiveness of this year's advertising poster – a sadomasochistic mocking of Da Vinci's “The Last Supper” – on which the company's logo appeared.

Sounds like quite a story, doesn't it?  Public nudity, public sex and the suspension of public decency laws, all sponsored by the San Francisco taxpayer. Toss in allegations of anti-religious discrimination and a boycott against the nation's second largest brewer, and the story ought to generate screaming headlines. 

But the major national media have not uttered a word about the Folsom Street Fair.

The media are supposed to be attracted to sex, controversy, and compelling visuals.  By ignoring a story filled to the brim with all of these elements, the media have shown that the old truism, “if it bleeds, it leads,” is now trumped by the liberal agenda. 

Far be it from the national media to report any story that might interfere with the progress of homosexual rights, or win sympathy for unborn human life. 

Kristen Fyfe is senior writer at the Culture and Media Institute [1], a division of the Media Research Center.