Wednesday's Biased Item - December 12, 2007

Gore Takes Train From Oslo Airport, Luggage Takes Mercedes

Excerpt

INSTRUCTIONS: 
Read the excerpt below from Noel Sheppard's Dec. 8th post at NewsBusters.org.   Scroll down and read "Types of Media Bias."  Then answer the questions. 

QUESTIONS:  
1.  What type of bias is this excerpt an example of? (scroll down to the bottom of the page for the answer) 

EXCERPT (from the Newsbusters.org post):

Friday's adoring Associated Press piece concerning Nobel Laureate Al Gore's noble decision to take the train from the Oslo airport rather than the traditional motorcade to his hotel neglected something...: his luggage!

After all, Gore and wife Tipper aren't going to wear the same clothes this entire trip they wore on the plane, right?

So, where was all their baggage as the couple took the train?

Well, according to the Norwegian website VG Nett, Gore's luggage went by Mercedes van (h/t NB reader in Norway Trond Ruud who supplied the following translation):

Headline: Here the climate conscious Al Gore takes the public train, but his luggage is transported in a Mercedes
 
Picture caption: Peace Prize laureate Al Gore and his wife Tipper are having a nice trip on the airport express train. On the motorway, their luggage is being whisked to Oslo in a Mercedes van.
 
Together with the Leader of the Nobel Institute, Geir Lundestad and the Nobel Committee Leader, Ole Danbolt Mjoes, they took the Airport Express train from Gardermoen airport to the National Theatre station in Oslo.
 
Never before, has a Peace Prize laureate chosen this mode of travel.
 
"I was told that the Express Train, was both faster and more comfortable, so it was an easy choice. And trains are symbols of environmental consciousness," a vigourous Gore, told the press corps.
 
Much Luggage
 
Leader of the Nobel Ceremony arrangements, Sigrid Langebrekke from the Norwegian Nobel Institute, said they had to use a Mercedes van to handle all the luggage. She says, that all cars being used during the Nobel Ceremony have high environmental standard.

Do you think his luggage bought carbon credits to offset the greenhouse gases emitted on the trip from the airport?

Honestly, would it have been too much like journalism for the AP to inquire about where Gore's luggage was, or might that have interfered with the agenda?

Go to NewsBusters.org for the original posting.

Types of Media Bias

Explanation of Media Bias

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANSWER:
1. The excerpt is an example of bias by omission.