Irish Media Bias?

Most people who say they "read" the newspaper, actually don't. When they say "read", they really mean "scan the headlines and glance at the photos."

The editors at all major media outlets are aware of this and understand the ease with which the public's opinon can be manipulated by which headlines and photographs are included with news articles.

Case in point:

In May, Finfacts.com posted this article titled "Late payments on US Mortgages rise; 29% of borrowers who took out home loans in 2005 owe more than the value of their houses."

The article talks about how Ben Bernanke, the new Chairman of the Federal Reserve is concerned about the rising number of mortgage delinquencies:

"US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said today in Chicago, that he is concerned about the rising number of home loan delinquencies in the US. His remarks coincide with a report in today's Wall Street Journal that soaring housing prices and aggressive mortgage lending have saddled American home buyers with ever greater levels of debt, and early signs are now emerging that more people are unable to keep up with their monthly mortgage payments."

Finfacts then chooses a photograph of President Bush announcing the nomination of Bernanke as Fed Chairman.

President Bush is not mentioned anywhere in the article, yet by juxtaposing the photograph with a story about people possibly losing thier homes, Finfacts has created a correlation between President Bush and potentially bad economic news.

Irresponsible.