1.  What two types of bias does the excerpt below highlight?

2.  Emails, uncovered last week, suggested the White House's talking points on Benghazi underwent 12 revisions. [and still incorrectly asserted that the violence was a result of a youtube video].  Sen. John McCain said the White House's handling of the Sept. 11 attacks in Benghazi was a "cover-up." Sen. McCain said:

"Now, you’ve got to look at this in the context of the times there. We are in the midst of a presidential campaign [less than 2 months before the Nov. 2012 presidential election]. The narrative by the Obama campaign is that bin Laden is dead, that al Qaeda is on the run, not to worry about anything, and here comes this attack on Benghazi. And there are so many questions that are unanswered. The president didn’t call it an act of terror. In fact, two weeks later, before the U.N., he was talking about hateful videos and spontaneous demonstrations. What he did say the day after was he condemned acts of terrorism, but then that night…and throughout the next two weeks, he kept saying that it was caused by a spontaneous demonstration sparked by a hateful video. He kept saying that over and over again and condemning that." McCain repeated his assertion that the administration is guilty of a cover-up. "I’d call it a cover-up," he said. "I would call it a cover-up to the extent that there was willful removal of information, which was obvious."

Why do you think the news media chose to give viewers tabloid news (what according to CNN's Burnett was a "soap opera" full of "salacious entertainment") instead of reports on an important government investigation of a terrorist attack on a U.S. embassy? Explain your answer.

3.  The Society of Professional Journalists' website state that:

• Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know.
• Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.

In the case of Benghazi, do you think the media met these standards for reporting?  Explain your answer.