MediaMatters.org writer Jamison Foser has written an excellent article that refutes mainstream media reports on the Minnesota Senate race. MediaMatters serves as an excellent source for those intent upon finding information without network bias.
As a college student, I took an intro mass communications course (with fantasies of becoming either a sports caster or writer for National Geographic) and learned you could sway your audience through your words. When reporting, you could force the reader to form an opinion one way or another. Reporters were taught to use "who, what, how, when, where" (the 5 things to always include in the first paragraph) and to use active voice. With blogs, additional writing tips are a must.
That said, Foser discusses the recount in Minnesota (required by law when an election represents 1/2 of 1% or less). Unfortunately, many media outlets, apparently including the New York Times, NBC's Today, the Minneapolis Star Tribune & media host Sean Hannity, allege sensational problems by using words like "shenanigans, chaos, mess in Minnesota" and "fishy business."
Why didn't they use "voter recount required by law" or "recount in Minnesota?" Yellow journalism (biased opinion masquerading as objective fact) popularized by Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolf Hearst in the late 19th century is alive and well in the 21st. Newspaper circulation keeps shrinking and more Americans get their news either from The Daily Show or the internet. Sensationalism sells papers and brings viewers.
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