Bias in the eye of the beholder

Charlie Sykes asks:

THIS ISN'T BIAS?

Jessica McBride compares how the JS covered the public hearing on the Taxpayer Protection Amendment with the coverage in the Waukesha Freeman.

The JS headline was: "Educators resist revenue curbs,"

The first 12 paragraphs of the story are anti-TPA government types. The headline reads: Educators resist revenue curbs. It could have read: Taxpayers urge revenue curbs. But it wasn't slanted that way. Where are "the people" in this story? The pro-TPA folks get the 8 paragraphs at the bottom of the 20 paragraph story.

In contrast, the Freeman headlined it's story: "Taxpayers fight for their rights; forum for proposed amendment draws strong emotions."

And citizen Bob Geason, who's at the end of the JS story, gets paragraphs 2, 3, and 4 in the Freeman.

Considering that opponents of the measure outnumbered supporters by something like 7 to 1, making it hard to find some fighting taxpayers to quote, it appears the coverage was biased -- but it was the Freeman's coverage, no doubt tailored to its Waukesha County readership.