Journalism Class - Monday November 7

[jerusalem-s.livejournal.com]

Spider is slumped behind his desk looking pissed as hell. There's a button on his jacket that reads 'Do not attempt to converse with me' and one below it that reads 'This means YOU'. The cat is nowhere to be seen.

Once there are several people in the classroom, he snarls, "For today's class assignment, please go to The New York Times website. Find an article with a definite slant or bias. Copy it, explain why it is biased and how and highlight the words or phrases that reveal the bias. Discuss amongst yourselves as to whether you agree or disagree with the original author of the article and/or your classmate's diagnosis."

Comments

[soldtoarmenians]

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 - In their long and frustrated efforts pushing Congress to pass legislation on global warming, environmentalists are gaining a new ally.

With increasing vigor, evangelical groups that are part of the base of conservative support for leading Republicans are campaigning for laws that would reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which scientists have linked with global warming.

In the latest effort, the National Association of Evangelicals, a nonprofit organization that includes 45,000 churches serving 30 million people across the country, is circulating among its leaders the draft of a policy statement that would encourage lawmakers to pass legislation creating mandatory controls for carbon emissions.

Environmentalists rely on empirical evidence as their rationale for Congressional action, and many evangelicals further believe that protecting the planet from human activities that cause global warming is a values issue that fulfills Biblical teachings asking humans to be good stewards of the earth.

Full article

[soldtoarmenians]

The article seems to be slanted towards the environmentalists, describing their efforts as 'long and frustrated' and saying they rely on empirical evidence, while quoting the anti-legislation guy as saying that global warming is a hoax, but not really explaining where he's coming from. They give his political opinion on how successful the evangelicals who don't agree with him are going to be, but never really explain his position.

It also doesn't address any other reasons a large religious group might be interested in helping push through environmental legislation - pretty much the 'stewardship of the earth' thing is presented at face value, without offering (or getting any expert opinions on) what their other political motivations might be.