The first part of that piece should be posted too.
The Media's Antigun Bias
The American Journalism Review publishes a revealing piece by Michael Bane (we first read about it on Virginia Postrel's site), who runs media seminars for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, on the antigun bias in the media. One anecdote is particularly telling:
In one case, a journalist had agreed to come. He said he had argued with his producers that there was a need to balance their coverage of firearms. Later in the week, he called to cancel, and after extracting a promise to never reveal his name or media outlet, said that his producers had nixed his visit on the grounds that they were "unwilling to present any positive firearms stories," and the best way to do that was just not assign any journalists to stories that could turn out to have a pro-gun spin. We talked for a long time, because he clearly felt he had walked into an ethical dilemma--which, of course, he had. Substitute "Hispanic" or "Democrat" for "firearms" in the above quote and try to imagine the political firestorm that would result.
In the end, he didn't attend: "They made it clear to me that my job was on the line," he said. A newbie reporter at a metropolitan daily? Nope--a veteran national political correspondent, whose name you would recognize, working for one of the most prestigious national news outlets in the country. And his is not an isolated case.
btw, I think the manufacturer of the Tech-9 was asking for trouble. If I remember right, they hyped the Tech-9's grainy finish as being a "fingerprintless finish." Other manufacturers should have taken them to task over that one. |
