Ignore the News That Doesn't Fit

Have you heard about the decline in violence in Iraq since the beginning of the security crackdown? Not if you're reading the major newspapers (from Special Report):

The news from Iraq that violence in Baghdad is down just one month into the new security crackdown didn't make a dent in most major newspaper front pages — and was buried in many.

The New York Times had it on page 16 today. The L.A. Times page 6, and the Chicago Tribune page 10. The decrease was mentioned in Wednesday's Washington Post on page 9 and the Boston Globe's page 13.

On the broadcast networks there was a brief mention on NBC's nightly newscast — but we could not find any reference on the ABC or CBS evening news shows.

In a related story (also from Special Report), a significantly large number of people detect a leftward bias in the media:

83 percent of likely voters in the latest Zogby Internet poll say the media are biased in their reporting — with 64 percent feeling that the bias is tilted to the left. 97 percent of Republicans detect a liberal bias — two-thirds of independents agree — and even 17 percent of Democrats said the media favor the left.

Just 28 percent of the online respondents said there was a conservative slant in news coverage.

Think the two stories might be related?