Promoting Life on the Front Page:.(Pro-life and the mass media)(Brief Article)

Throughout the country, there is widespread belief that the news media is biased. This belief was substantiated by the new book that "everyone is talking about," Bias by Bernard Goldberg. In his book Goldberg, a CBS insider, exposes the depth and breadth of the media's leftward (and more important for us, pro-abortion) slant.

In defending himself against charges he is nothing but a disgruntled conservative, Goldberg vigorously reminds his critics that he is "pro-choice" and that his personal beliefs on many issues would generally be associated with "liberals."

Goldberg is certainly correct when he points out that members of the national media overwhelmingly self-identify as liberal and that their coverage of the abortion issue is decidedly "pro-choice."

We would respond, of course, that defending life is neither a conservative nor a liberal position. And our concern is not what a reporter's political ideology may be but whether his or her coverage of our issues is fair and balanced.

Now I am going to posit a theory of my own regarding the media. Regardless of what direction the major news organizations may lean or however biased their coverage of the abortion issue is, your local newspaper may be much less unfriendly to pro-lifers. The more mainstream your community and town, or the smaller the community, the more balanced the reporting seems to be, college towns to the contrary notwithstanding.

And even if the editors and reporters have pro-abortion personal politics, there is an opening for us. Typically their penchant is for "bleeding heart" stories, ones that evoke powerful emotional responses.

Now, isn't every life ended by abortion and every woman harmed by an abortion a "bleeding heart" story? That is the truth and eventually the truth will win out.