Mainstream Media Bias Towards Pro-Life Movement

Nothing new here.

It’s possible that you, the reader, are not too familiar with what is called media bias. Any Canadian who has been associated with the pro-life movement for even a short period of time can probably recall many frustrating moments when this was all too evident. The story in question, although occurring in the US, is a perfect example. A national pro-life gathering of perhaps 200,000 citizens garners little or no attention but a few thousand anti-war protesters on Capital Hill gets maximum coverage by the Big Three news outlets.

The same thing happens regularly in Canada. A couple of years ago Real Women of Canada issued an insightful piece on Canadian media and journalism and sought to explain why this regularly happens. The title of the article was “Journalists are Different than the Rest of us.” The discreet and understated conclusion:

Because journalism is in essence a human endeavour, it reflects the values and political orientations of those who do it. To say that journalism is based on notions of objectivity is to state the ideal, but what has been demonstrated is that Canadian journalists have a long way to go in achieving that ideal. Based on the findings of this study, we are quite right to be cynical about press coverage on social issues of the day.

Please do read it.

About a year ago, Dr. Paul Ranalli, a pro-life Toronto neurologist, stated in a February editorial for the Calgary Herald [column archived here] that according to current polls two-thirds of Canadians want legal restrictions on abortion. Dr.Ranalli maintained that the “prevailing elites in media, education, law, medicine and public policy” favour and promote unrestricted abortion, while consistently hiding the fact that a majority of Canadians do not share their view. He asks how it is that a majority opinion can be portrayed as “extreme.”

On March 27, Jonathan Kay of the National Post [copy of article can be found here] pointed out Canada’s shameful status as the only free nation in the world without abortion laws. Kay joins Ranalli in accusing a radical minority of imposing its agenda on Canadians. He argues it is time for Canada to provide legislation that reflects the “nation’s collective moral sense.”


What can we learn from these stories?

Simply put, those of us who choose the high moral ground must not be shaken by the attitudes and practices of the media. True, they wield formidable power in the lives of Canadians and they very often choose to distort and to undermine moral matters in an effort to impose their mindset and world view. However, they do not stand on the side of truth and justice and can easily be toppled by principled and disciplined opposition. Sometimes a simple and logical argument presented in a letter to the editor is sufficient to thwart any damage that might have been done in any one biased media report.

Our greatest danger is apathy and indifference and we cannot afford to move any further down that road. Honestly, lives are hanging in the balance.