MEDIA BIAS, ALIVE AND WELL AND LOCAL AS HELL

Yep, right upside the head, LOST has been smacked with the reality that bias in the media remains undaunted by election results, poll numbers or even the lingering spirit of Christmas. Both local fishwraps - the Union Tribune and the North County Times - have posted big articles on the recent arrest of on Jim Lampley - locally based sports broadcaster and erstwhile critic of all things Bush-Cheney, for "Domestic Violence" when in fact his arrest dealt with his violation of a restraining order obtained by his fiancee. Lengthy article, salacious headline, the NC Times all-too-happy to point out Lampley's political activism. Guilty, evil Lib'rul!

But wait. Here's another story. Widely syndicated political cartoonist arrested for DWI, and its apparently his second alcohol related arrest in four months. Big news, right? Maybe not man bites dog, but certainly a mouth ful or two of ol' Hair-o-the dog, don't you think? Especially when the cartoon is apparently a popular fixture in the most local of the aforementioned local wraps? No story. And not a story, especially when that cartoonist is the creator of terminally unfunny "Mallard Fillmore," Edward Bruce Tinsley. One has to go all the way to the Indianapolis Star News to read about Tipsy Tinsley's Transgressing Trip. Okay, well a Google search picks up a few more, but nothing here in Dukester land, to be sure.

Now LOST doesn't write to praise Lampley or exonerate or excuse his alleged conduct. LOST writes to pose this question: Should the publicity surrounding a recognized public figure's legal trouble be proportionally related - either way - to that figure's political ideology, and it's fit (or lack thereof) with the perceived bent of a paper's readership? This would appear to be the case with both local reads - particularly the North County Times. A search of their paper's online archives reveals mention of Tinsley only in letters to the editor, and those are overwhelmingly in favor of praising the (apparently) carousing cartoonist. Call it both ways, NC Times. Let your readers know about the drunken duck.