Bias In Action - The

Bias In Action - The LATimes had been working on its dirt bomb against Schwarzenegger for weeks, says the LA Weekly - under intense security:

According to a well-informed source at the paper, the story, which hit the political world with a thunderclap, never appeared on the paper’s internal or external publication schedules. Indeed, project editor Joel Sappell and the three reporters working on what the Times has described as a seven-week-long investigative project were very tight-lipped about both the scheduling of the piece and its contents. They discussed the story only with the paper’s senior editors. Although the story did not appear on the schedule, it was reportedly placed in the "write basket," in which other Times editors and reporters can look at upcoming pieces, after hours last Wednesday night, just a few hours before it appeared on the Times Web site.

So the paper's working a big scoop, and it's keeping it under wraps.

No big deal, right?

Except...:

Even with utmost secrecy surrounding the piece, senior Democratic strategists with long-standing ties to Davis knew not only when the story was coming but also the particulars of what was in it. These strategists felt that the story held the possibility of tipping the election away from Schwarzenegger and of defeating the governor’s recall.

But the press isn't biased.

The other day, when talking about Maureen Dowd's hatchet job in the Sunday paper, I wondered out loud if there weren't a source in California that told her to have the goods ready to roll in time for the weekend. Doesn't seem so implausible to me right now.

Posted by Mitch at October 7, 2003 06:11 AM