Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Poll Slanting 101
This is one of the most egregious examples of 'slanting' I've ever seen:
Headline: 42% Want Our Troops to Quit Iraq
"Nearly half of voters want British troops to pull out of Iraq, a new poll showed today as yet another country announced it was withdrawing from the international coalition in the country."
Link.
Of course, another way to say this is "A strong majority do not want British troops to pull out of Iraq."
It came as Honduras became the latest nation to pledge a pull-out of its 370 soldiers
The term 'latest' implies a trend. But Honduras is really only the second nation to do so, although they were just joined by the Dominican Republic this morning. Of course, there's no mention of the fact that Italy, Poland, Japan, Bulgaria, and other nations have all affirmed their commitment to see their rotations through.
No. That wouldn't serve this newspaper's obvious intent in spinning the news.
amid rising violence
Ok. Well, except that violence is actually decreasing this week, but ok.
and public opposition to America's bypassing of the UN.
Whoosh!!!!!! Where did that come from??? Is that even still an issue? Especially since the Bush Administration is including UN officials in the planning of the return of sovreignty to the Iraqi people, and has signaled its willingness to sign on to much of the UN proposal.
Of course, no mention of that, either.
You know, this article doesn't even read like news. It reads more like an essay in The Nation.
George Bush made clear his anger at Spain's decision to withdraw its 1,300 troops from Iraq in a terse five-minute phone call to the country's Prime Minister.
Wrong. Actually, the Prime Minister called Bush. Get your facts right, Standard.
Some 27 per cent said soldiers should be withdrawn immediately
Wow. That's pretty, umm, unimpressive.
Backing for the war slumped from 53 per cent in January to just 41 per cent today, while Mr Blair's personal ratings remained at minus 20 points.
Now this is the only decent paragraph of the whole story. Of course, it doesn't come until the very end.
Of course, the Standard still ought to be good for wrapping up your fish and chips.
Splash, out
Jason
Headline: 42% Want Our Troops to Quit Iraq
"Nearly half of voters want British troops to pull out of Iraq, a new poll showed today as yet another country announced it was withdrawing from the international coalition in the country."
Link.
Of course, another way to say this is "A strong majority do not want British troops to pull out of Iraq."
It came as Honduras became the latest nation to pledge a pull-out of its 370 soldiers
The term 'latest' implies a trend. But Honduras is really only the second nation to do so, although they were just joined by the Dominican Republic this morning. Of course, there's no mention of the fact that Italy, Poland, Japan, Bulgaria, and other nations have all affirmed their commitment to see their rotations through.
No. That wouldn't serve this newspaper's obvious intent in spinning the news.
amid rising violence
Ok. Well, except that violence is actually decreasing this week, but ok.
and public opposition to America's bypassing of the UN.
Whoosh!!!!!! Where did that come from??? Is that even still an issue? Especially since the Bush Administration is including UN officials in the planning of the return of sovreignty to the Iraqi people, and has signaled its willingness to sign on to much of the UN proposal.
Of course, no mention of that, either.
You know, this article doesn't even read like news. It reads more like an essay in The Nation.
George Bush made clear his anger at Spain's decision to withdraw its 1,300 troops from Iraq in a terse five-minute phone call to the country's Prime Minister.
Wrong. Actually, the Prime Minister called Bush. Get your facts right, Standard.
Some 27 per cent said soldiers should be withdrawn immediately
Wow. That's pretty, umm, unimpressive.
Backing for the war slumped from 53 per cent in January to just 41 per cent today, while Mr Blair's personal ratings remained at minus 20 points.
Now this is the only decent paragraph of the whole story. Of course, it doesn't come until the very end.
Of course, the Standard still ought to be good for wrapping up your fish and chips.
Splash, out
Jason
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