"Do the news media -- in general -- have such a mental leaning or inclination? Sure. The very nature of writing starts because someone has an inclination to write about something.

We choose the topic, we decide what's news. We also decide what not to write about, what's not news.

The decisions we make are why so many people distrust the news media; they just don't agree with our selections.

A new study by the Missouri School of Journalism's Center for Advanced Social Research reports that 85 percent of those surveyed see bias in news reporting. It breaks down as 48 percent see a liberal bias, 30 percent a conservative bias, 12 percent see both and 3 percent see other biases."

Get the Story:
Mark Trahant: Serving the public, live from Olympia (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer 5/2)

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