[Speed Gibson,
Monday May 9, 2005 at 12:51am]
A Matter of Inches
As Fraters noticed also, Reader Representative (Ombudsman was sexist I suppose) Kate Parry verified the obvious bias of the Minneapolis Star Tribune regarding the proposed Twins Stadium. She counted the column inches pro and con, and where they appeared. Here's the management response to the lopsided statistics she compiled:
"Straight down the middle" as Dan Rather perceived the New York Times? Mr. Gyllenhaal, by calling the coverage decidedly balanced in the face of the hard evidence to the contrary has once again in effect confessed to the very bias he claims not to exist.
Ms. Parry prompts a question that has long puzzled me as a longtime Star Tribune subscriber. Why are some articles of general statewide interest in the Metro section? And why are some minor issues of local interest only in the "A" section? Maybe it's a matter of press deadlines, but I'm going to write to Kate Parry to see if there is some method to this apparently random pattern.
Editor Anders Gyllenhaal disagrees that opponents were underrepresented in initial coverage. "Opponents are quoted in every single story that's been done," he said, calling the coverage "decidedly balanced," with multiple opponents quoted in each package. "My goal is to provide coverage that's straight down the middle," he said.
"Straight down the middle" as Dan Rather perceived the New York Times? Mr. Gyllenhaal, by calling the coverage decidedly balanced in the face of the hard evidence to the contrary has once again in effect confessed to the very bias he claims not to exist.
Ms. Parry prompts a question that has long puzzled me as a longtime Star Tribune subscriber. Why are some articles of general statewide interest in the Metro section? And why are some minor issues of local interest only in the "A" section? Maybe it's a matter of press deadlines, but I'm going to write to Kate Parry to see if there is some method to this apparently random pattern.