Media Bias On Display: Here’s

Media Bias On Display: Here’s an outstanding example of media bias. First off, let’s look at the deceptive headline and first paragraph that Yahoo! News had as one of it’s leading stories earlier today…

“Bush Harken Deal Faces New Scrutiny
Tue Jul 16, 2:31 AM ET – (AP)

George W. Bush signed a letter in 1990 saying he wouldn’t sell any stock for at least six months in the struggling Texas oil company where he was a director. But 2 months later, with Harken Energy Corp. hit by a sudden financial crisis, Bush cashed out his shares for $848,560.”

What you’re supposed to infer from this is that Bush had no intention of selling his shares until he got some inside information that convinced him to sell. If you were familiar with the case and all you read was what Yahoo! News led with, this is the impression that you’d get. But let’s dig into the story…

14 paragraphs into the article we get this…

“White House spokesman Dan Bartlett said that the lockout letter was “made irrelevant and obsolete” by the time Bush sold his shares because the public stock offering never went through.”

So now we see that Yahoo! News pulled a bait and switch on us. The letter Bush signed was irrelevant because the stock offering it applied to NEVER HAPPENED. Here’s another little detail that hasn’t been reported as it should…

“…He (Bush) divested himself of more than $1.5 million in stocks in Harken and other companies to cover debts of about $931,000 — $600,000 for the Rangers loan and $331,000 for taxes, according to McCleskey”

So Bush didn’t JUST sell Harken stock, he sold other stocks AT THE SAME TIME as well. That in and of itself should help undercut the idea that Bush sold Harken because of inside information. Unless Bush is supposed to have gotten inside information on those other stocks at the time.

Here’s one more little think Yahoo tosses in near the end…

“One expert said even though Bush signed the lockup letter, it didn’t represent a serious obstacle to selling.

It is fairly common for company insiders to sign such letters and then obtain permission to sell the stock anyway before the lockout period is up, said Carr Bettis, an associate research professor of finance at Arizona State University”

So 4 paragraphs from the bottom, Yahoo! News basically tosses in a bit of information that totally undercuts THE ENTIRE POINT OF THEIR OWN STORY. If selling after signing “lockup letters” is a “common” thing, then why is that whole thing even worthy of a story in the first place?!?! I’ll tell you why, it’s just another opportunity for the mainstream media to smear Republicans…

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