Reading today’s Washington Post about election coverage and the op-ed pages irritated me a little. I recognize there is bias in reporting the news and I sinply do buy in to the idea on unbiased reporters. We all have biases and can only try to overcome them. My reading today prompted this letter to the Ombudsman at the Washington Post.

As I read the 03 November 2010 edition I was struck by the contradictions and the apparent bias on the Washington Post.

I read Dana Milbank’s op-ed titled “Crowing at Fox News” in spite of the fact that headline really turned me off. As I read it I came to the conclusion that he has a very unhealthy fascination with Fox News. He seems to imply that Fox News reports with a bias while other news organizations do not.

A few articles later I ran across Shailagh Murray’s article headlined “Democrats keep majority, but GOP shifts landscape.” I have to admit that the selection of that headline seems to demonstrate a bias of the editors of the Washington Post. The news last night, my dear Washington Post, was that something DID change, not that something did not. The news was not that the Democrats keep a majority; the news was that the Democrats lost the majority, by a lot, in the House. Admittedly the content of the paper clearly points that out but the headline certainly indicates to me that there was a desire to shift focus from the Republican’s gain.

I don’t mind bias in the news reporting. Personally I have yet to read or meet a reporter that is not biased. As long I know that bias I can apply the appropriate filter. I know Fox leans right; I know the Post leans left; I know CNN leans left; I know MSNBC is, well, not to be taken seriously. What bothers me is for the Post to accuse others of being biased while implying that they are not.