fun with wording

So by now we all know that crazy McCain campaigner wasn't really attacked by OJ Simpson wielding a knife and carving fertility symbols into any and all McCain supporter's cheeks ... or whatever it was she claimed ... but this is just the kind of story that headline bias is quite susceptible to. And since most American's get their news in headline format ONLY, I think this is kind of an important phenomenon to investigate. So let's take a look at the way different media outlets covered this story ...

The Dallas Morning News
One Texan's tall tale debunked: McCain volunteer admits making up attack story

I tried to find information on any bias this paper might have, but came up with nothing. This is still interesting though. Calling this story a "tall tale" doesn't exactly give it the weight that I believe it deserves. "Tall tale" brings up images of Paul Bunyan and Joe Henry, not crazy bitches lying about having their faces carved by eccentric Obama supporters as a political ploy to discredit Obama.

FOXNews.com
McCain Campaign Volunteer Admits Alleged Attack Was a Hoax

This one's a lil' more clever. By putting the word "alleged" into the title it sort of twists the whole thing into a whole "yeah, well, we didn't think it was real either." Obviously not typical FOX News behavior, but it does follow suit with their Executive VP's quote that "If the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain’s quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting." Is FOX News getting their ducks in-a-line in anticipation of an Obama victory?

USA Today
Reports: McCain volunteer lied about partisan-fueled attack

Yeeup. USA Today, arguably the worst national newspaper tells it rather straight. For a newspaper that's 90% headlines, this really shouldn't be that surprising.

CBS Texas
McCain Volunteer Changes Story About Attack

Yeah, no real commentary on that. Vague and ambiguous. Did she change it to say that she made it up, or possibly that the black man who attacked her was the sheik of all muslimhood BARACK OBAMA!?

Blacknews
Desperate McCain Supporter Faked Black Attack

Ha! You tell 'em Blacknews.

that's enough right?