All media must check their biases

I enjoyed reading Jim Slusher’s April 5 column on the difficulties a newspaper encounters in this increasingly polarized country. But I would like to point out that even though the Daily Herald does a very good job cutting through the spin, this paper is not immune.

Case in point: two comments made recently by national figures, with dramatically different coverage. First, on April 10, Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) charged that about 80 Democratic congressmen are Communist Party members. It’s not true, and the comment was given a “Pants on Fire” rating by Politifact Florida. Note, this is a movement that has resulted in millions of deaths, courtesy of Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot and others.

As a congressman, West can directly influence our national budget, including infrastructure, research and development, and national security investments. He has repeated the comments without apology, and no one in the Republican leadership condemns his lie. And, the Daily Herald has ignored this story, both on paper and online.

Second, on April 11, Democratic pundit and activist Hilary Rosen made a comment on CNN that “ ... Ann Romney hasn’t worked a day in her life.” She immediately realized her error and has apologized repeatedly. The incredibly high-profile coverage has caused the president and other Democratic Party officials to condemn the comments, even though Ms. Rosen has no direct power to affect policy. In the second situation, the Daily Herald has provided full coverage with a blurb in today’s “60 seconds” column, a full AP article devoted to “The Mommy Wars,” and it’s also the Poll Vault topic — “Was your mom a stay-at-home mom?” — on the website’s masthead.

What’s wrong with our national priorities, and our televised and print media, when the first story is ignored and the second one is dissected to death?

Deirdre O’Riordan

Arlington Heights