Directions

-Read the excerpt below from James Taranto's Jan. 26 posting at OpinionJournal.com.
-Read "Types of Media Bias" in the right column. Then answer the questions.

Good news from Iraq: Parliament has approved Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s plan for securing Baghdad, which means that President Bush’s new strategy has the legal approval of the Iraqi government.

Bad news from Iraq, according to the New York Times:

Iraq’s Shiite prime minister and Sunni lawmakers hurled insults at one another during a raucous session of Parliament on Thursday, with the prime minister threatening a Sunni lawmaker with arrest and the Sunni speaker of Parliament threatening to quit.

That’s the lead paragraph. The 27th paragraph–yes, the twenty-seventh–finally informs us of the outcome:

Eventually, though, the tensions eased and Parliament approved the security plan.

If Parliament had rejected the plan, do you think the Times would have waited until the 27th paragraph to tell us?

Go to OpinionJoural.com for the original posting.

Identifying Media Bias

To accurately identify different types of bias, you should be aware of the issues of the day, and the liberal and conservative perspectives on each issue.

Types of Media Bias:

Questions

Which type of bias best describes the New York Times’ report on the Iraq Parliament’s approval of Pres. Bush’s new strategy?


Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the answers.

Answers

The excerpt above is an example of bias by placement.