I guess the headline rule - you take your cue from the lead sentence or paragraph - still holds. So I will not charge the headline writer at the Albuquerque Journal who put "Roberts Attacks Suicide Law" with a felony, just a misdeanor.
Gina Holland's AP story Oct. 6 opens like this:
"New Chief Justice John Roberts stepped forward Wednesday as an agggressive defender of federal authority to block doctor-assisted suicide, as the Supreme Court clashed over an Oregon law that lets doctors help terminally ill patients end their lives."
Come on now - justices use oral presentations to learn and hone their thinking on the legal issues before them. Their questions may or may not reflect their opinions. Holland cannot know which. I am surprised her editor didn't intervene.
And the headline writer deserves a slap on the wrist for failing to question the lead.
On Oct. 1, the Albuquerque Tribune ran a story on the ballot proposal to raise the minimum wage. In it, reporter Erik Siemers characterized the Air America radio network as "far left."
I call it liberal.
Far-left would be a proper description of Noam Chomsky, maybe. But Al Franken?
I have no idea why Siemers wrote that. Or how it got past the editors. Probably
just a too-quick judgment.
I offer both comments to make the point that journalism suffers more from failing to live up to its own standards than from bias.