Example of Media Bias:

The excerpt below is an example of media bias by SPIN. It is from March 2nd “CyberAlert”, found at MediaResearchCenter.org. (For a definition of SPIN, look under “Types of Media Bias” in the right column.)

NPR Spurns Social Security “Reform” Tag, But in Clinton Years…

Ron Elving, NPR’s Washington editor, has instructed National Public Radio staffers not to use the word “reform” to describe President Bush’s proposal to change the Social Security system, NPR’s media critic Brooke Gladstone reported on Monday’s Morning Edition. “Reform, if you look at the dictionary, has a strong implication of improvement, to better something. It’s a corrective process,” Elving argued.

But a decade ago, NPR’s Morning Edition crew had no problems referring to the Clintons’ plan to increase the government’s control of the health care industry as “reform.” Back on September 23, 1993, host Bob Edwards intoned: “President Clinton went before a joint session of Congress last night to announce the most sweeping domestic initiative in a generation, his long-awaited health care reform plan.”