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http://www.investigativeproject.org/1585/balance-isnt-always-the-same-as-accuracy

“Balance Isn’t Always the Same as Accuracy”

IPT News
December 22, 2009

SNIPPET: “Imagine a news story on the problems posed by steroid use in sports. It includes comments from former baseball player Barry Bonds, who argues that professional sports leagues and Congress need not investigate the matter because the players can police themselves.

It notes that Bonds has had “a contentious relationship with Major League Baseball due to suspicions he was a steroid user himself, a charge he denies.” But the story doesn’t say anything more about the basis for those suspicions, omitting reports of failed steroid tests and a perjury indictment for allegedly lying to a federal grand jury about his steroid use.

That story might be considered balanced – it reports the general allegation and the denial. But it’s woefully incomplete and the outlet which published it likely would meet some ridicule. There’s a detailed record available to challenge Bonds’ denial that is not presented to readers.

Yet, that’s the routine when it comes to the media’s treatment of the tense relationship between federal law enforcement and national Islamist organizations - the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in particular. That tension derives from the FBI’s decision to cut off routine communication with CAIR and from a series of counter-terror investigations targeting Muslim charities linked to terrorists or involving the use of FBI informants in mosques.”