Rob (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} robyrt) wrote,@ 2008-05-27 15:33:00 |
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Why I Don't Read the LA Times
Via Slate, I found this article detailing how two of America's most liberal newspapers, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, reported the same event. Just after the California courts made gay marriage legal, they took a poll to see if Californians support the decision, or the constitutional amendment to invalidate the decision that's up for a vote this November.
Californians, it turns out, oppose gay marriage by 54% to 35%. The New York Times noted, "Californians Still Oppose Gay Marriage." The LA Times instead leads with, "Californians narrowly reject gay marriage, poll finds." 19 percent isn't narrow by any stretch of the imagination, and in fact they are prepared to call Obama's 14% victories "handily won". See a difference? Oh right, the LA Times supports gay marriage and wants to report that other people do too, even when it means ignoring the facts.
The writer itself isn't necessarily to blame, as the article calls attention to the genuinely "slim majority" of 54% over the 50% necessary to pass the ballot initiative. The editors writing the headline, on the other hand, saw something they liked - a close poll on a hot issue! - and ran with it, leaving them to be lampooned by conservative bloggers for no good reason.
P.S. The fact that Californians oppose gay marriage by 19% is the best evidence yet for McCain's grandiose plan to take California back for the Republicans.
Via Slate, I found this article detailing how two of America's most liberal newspapers, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, reported the same event. Just after the California courts made gay marriage legal, they took a poll to see if Californians support the decision, or the constitutional amendment to invalidate the decision that's up for a vote this November.
Californians, it turns out, oppose gay marriage by 54% to 35%. The New York Times noted, "Californians Still Oppose Gay Marriage." The LA Times instead leads with, "Californians narrowly reject gay marriage, poll finds." 19 percent isn't narrow by any stretch of the imagination, and in fact they are prepared to call Obama's 14% victories "handily won". See a difference? Oh right, the LA Times supports gay marriage and wants to report that other people do too, even when it means ignoring the facts.
The writer itself isn't necessarily to blame, as the article calls attention to the genuinely "slim majority" of 54% over the 50% necessary to pass the ballot initiative. The editors writing the headline, on the other hand, saw something they liked - a close poll on a hot issue! - and ran with it, leaving them to be lampooned by conservative bloggers for no good reason.
P.S. The fact that Californians oppose gay marriage by 19% is the best evidence yet for McCain's grandiose plan to take California back for the Republicans.
