Is your newspaper biased?

This photo has been floating around the Internet since yesterday. "Halp us Jon Carry - We R stuck hear n Irak," reads the sign reputedly held by soldiers from the Minnesota National Guard, now stationed in Talil, Iraq. The photo obviously pokes fun at U.S. Sen. John Kerry's remarks this week that were interpreted as saying, "stupid and lazy American kids will be 'stuck' in Iraq."

One blogger posted it today with a question: Is your newspaper biased? He helpfully provided the answer: If they don't run this photo, they are.

Ah, if bias were only so simple to spot. Might the newspaper that runs it be biased in favor of the blogger? Isn't that just as biased? And if you don't see it in your local newspaper, might there be reasons beyond bias (such as authenticity)?

Newspapers struggle every day to remove bias as much as possible from content. Because we are human reporters and editors, so-called "bias" might be as benign as choosing the verb "leaped" when some people believe the subject actually "hopped." Often, what readers might see as bias is unconscious, but very subtle. And sometimes -- rarely -- it raises its ugly head in more malignant ways ... but it's far rarer than amateur media critics believe.

Once, after writing a passionate and forceful editorial, an angry reader called to chastise me for my "biased opinions." I asked him: "What other opinions are there?" What you read on our editorial and op-ed pages ARE opinions. If they are editorials, they reflect the opinion of the newspaper as an institution. Everything else is printed to make you think, and here at The Enterprise, we try to cover as many perspectives as space permits.

I believe the real bias is in the reader. Increasingly, the reader comes to his media reports with firm convictions. If those reports support his convictions, they are deemed "fair." If they don't, they are "biased." If you believe President Bush is a misunderstood hero, then any report that suggests otherwise is "biased. If you believe Hillary Clinton is God's deliberate gift to mankind, then any story that celebrates her is "fair." But chances are, those reports were factual and even presented varied views.

Here's the part that will cause you to post a response: People genuinely want media bias .... as long as it suits their prefabbed biases. They love bias, if it's THEIR bias. One reason Fox News has become a darling of conservative media consumers is that its perceived (and perhaps real) bias supports their views. Fox viewers don't rail against Fox's bias; they embrace it.

It's unlikely you'll see the John Kerry photo above in The Enterprise. Does it mean we're biased? No. Would it mean we're not biased if it popped up here? No. We try harder than you can imagine to keep our news columns free of bias, and you can trust me on this, when we fail, we have a couple hundred thousand eyes ready to catch us. I think, all in all, The Enterprise and most mainstream newspapers do a good job of keeping bias out of the news.

But that's just my bias.