Name:Le Thi Hang Class:ATCD.

I:Bias by Word choice

Here are the deadlines and lead paragraphs of two articles which came out on the morning November 8,2008.They are both about a press conference Obama holds to state his resolve in dealing with the sinking U.S.economy. 1.The Global and Mail(8/11/2008

Obama urges quick passage of rescue plan for middle class

Facing the harsh reality of an economy sinking into recession, Barack Obama is urging George W. Bush and the lame-duck Congress to quickly pass a rescue plan for the middle class. If they don't, he will make it his first job it when he takes office in January. Disturbed by news that nearly a quarter-million jobs vanished in October, the U.S. presidentelect suggested the package should include extended jobless benefits, cash for strapped local governments and measures to save the embattled Detroit Three auto makers from bankruptcy. Americans can't wait much longer as their paycheques shrink and their savings disappear, he said. "I want to see a stimulus package sooner rather than later," he said yesterday after a meeting in Chicago with his top economic advisers, including former Federal Reserve Board chairman Paul Volcker, billionaire investor Warren Buffett and former Treasury secretary Robert Rubin. "If it does not get done in the lame-duck session, it will be the first thing I get done as president of the United States." Mr. Obama was vague about what should be included in what he called "a jump-start for the economy," or its price tag. But he suggested it. "He's inherited a hell of a mess," Mr. Maier acknowledged. "No one expects him to turn this around on a dime." The people in Stark County, which encompasses the faded manufacturing city of Canton, understand it will take some time to restore jobs, get banks to lend again and end the epidemic of foreclosures, he said. Economists stumbled over each other yesterday to describe the worse-than-expected October jobs numbers, using words such as "ugly," "awful," "dismal" and "horrible."

"There's no escaping the fact that the recession is gathering force and hitting the labour market with increasing ferocity," said David Resler, chief economist at Nomura Securities in New York. He predicted even larger job losses in the months ahead, pushing the unemployment rate to nearly 8 per cent next year. The last time the jobless rate breached 8 per cent was during the early 1980s. Paul Ashworth, senior U.S. economist at London-based Capital Economics Ltd., said the big concern now isn't just that the world's largest economy is in recession, but that it is mired in "a potentially severe recession that could blight the entire first year of Obama's presidency.

2.The Toronto Star(8/11/2008) Obama vows to act swiftly on economy

WASHINGTONA cautious, solemn Barack Obama, speaking on another grim day of financial news, promised Americans yesterday he will confront the country's economic crisis "head-on" as soon as he takes office in January. But the U.S. president-elect also signalled there is no reason for American legislators to wait, using his new political capital to call on them to pass an immediate stimulus package to help a middle class caught in the vise of a credit crisis. If they don't move, Obama said at his first post-election news conference in Chicago, it will be the first thing he will do when he takes office. "Immediately after I become president, I will confront this economic crisis head-on by taking all necessary steps to ease the credit crisis, help hard-working families, and restore growth and prosperity," he said. He was flanked at the news conference by the country's vice-president-elect, Joe Biden, Obama's new chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, and his team of economic advisers with whom he met before his conference with the media. This was the presidential Obama, not the campaign Obama, a transformation that began with his victory speech Tuesday night in Chicago. He was in control, to the point, but refusing to tip his hand in a number of areas. He stressed that the country has only one president at a time. George W. Bush is president for another 73 days. Conclusion:Through word choice,we can see that The Stars repaorter perhaps believes Obama is the right kind of leader with the right answers for a very dire situation while the Globes reporter isnt so willing to put his faith in the president elect .

II:Bias by omission
Example 1: 1.New York Times(1/18/1986)
After the Shock, a Need to Share Grief and Loss
The nation came together yesterday in a moment of disaster and loss. Wherever Americans were when they heard the news -- at work, at school or at home -- they shared their grief over the death of the seven astronauts, among them one who had captured their imaginations, Christa McAuliffe, the teacher from Concord, N.H., who was to have been the first ordinary citizen to go into space. Shortly after noon, when the first word of the explosion came, daily events seemed to stop as people awaited the details and asked the same questions: "What happened? Are there any survivors?" In offices, restaurants and stores, people gathered in front of television sets, mesmerized by the terrible scene of the shuttle exploding, a scene that would be replayed throughout the day and night. Children who had learned about Mrs. McAuliffe were watching in classrooms across the country. It seemed to be one of those moments, enlarged and frozen, that people would remember and recount for the rest of their lives.... It was like the Kennedy thing, said John Hannan, who heard the news when his sister called him at his office. Everyone was numb.

2:Columbia Journalism Review (March/April 2003)

It is January 28, 1986 a bitterly cold morning at Cape Canaveral. The countdown clock is ticking as seven astronauts aboard the space shuttle Challenger prepare for launch. Among them is Christa McAuliffe, the New Hampshire high school teacher who is set to become the first ordinary American in space. Several hundred miles north, in Atlanta, a Federal Express messenger delivers an envelope to the headquarters of the Cable News Network, the only TV network set to cover the "routine" launch live. The countdown continues as shuttle commander Dick Scobee and pilot Michael Smith run through their preflight checklist. T minus 25 minutes and counting. CNN is broadcasting a live progress report from the Cape when the anchorwoman in Atlanta suddenly breaks in: "We have an important announcement about the space shuttle. A panel of engineers from Morton Thiokol, which designed the crafts solid-fuel rocket booster, has unanimously urged NASA to scrub this mornings launch. According to a company memo provided to CNN, the rocket experts are afraid cold weather might cause problem-plagued rocket-booster parts call O-rings to malfunction, allowing hot gases to burn a hole through the booster. This, the experts say, could cause a catastrophic explosion. Incredibly, NASA is still going ahead with the launch."

The wire services, monitoring CNN, filed urgent bulletins quoting the network report. NASA Voais besieged with calls, including one from the White House. A T minus 15 minues, NASA announces a "hold" in the countdown and shortly thereafter reports that the mission has been scrubbed

Example 2: 1:CNN(3/5/2013) Euro recession deepens: So what can the ECB do now?
(CNN) -- Backed into a corner and desperate; That's the view of some economists watching the European Central Bank's latest attempts to curtail the euro bloc's recession. Thursday's interest rate cut, designed to combat a three-year debt crisis, will not stimulate economic growth in the bloc, they say. Less than a year after the ECB President Mario Draghi buoyed the markets with his promise to do "whatever it takes" to keep the currency together, the central bank's governors move has left some economists questioning whether the ECB has reached the limits of its power. Speaking in Bratislava, Slovakia, ECB President Mario Draghi said the central bank is "ready to act if needed." But the Italian shied away from announcing any extraordinary policy measures such as another "big bazooka" to increase bank liquidity or the unlimited purchases of government debt -- known as OMTs -- for troubled eurozone nations that sparked controversy in September. Joerg Rocholl, president of the European School of Management and Technology, told CNN that the rate cut is "a desperate move," and means the ECB can avoid criticism that it is "overstretching its mandate." Despite the ECB's commitment to bankroll ailing eurozone nations who request a full sovereign bailout by buying up government bonds, it has so far resisted the temptation to implement aggressive monetary stimulus. That intransigence puts it at odds with many of its peers around the world. The Bank of Japan, the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England have all embarked on a process of quantitative easing -- increasing the supply of money in the economy -- while also introducing other policies such as an unemployment benchmark and a funding for lending scheme, intended to encourage banks to loan to small businesses.

2:VOA(3/5/2013) ECB Cuts Rates to Record Low

PARIS In a move to help ailing eurozone economies, the European Central Bank on Thursday cut its benchmark interest rate to a record low of 0.5 percent, and raised prospects of a further rate cut, if needed. The move by the European Central Bank was widely expected. Nonetheless, the ECB cut its key interest rate from 0.75 percent to 0.5 percent. Speaking at a press conference in Bratislava, ECB President Mario Draghi said the cut could

help turn around the ailing fortunes of the 17-member euro currency union.

"Monetary and loan dynamics remain subdued. At the same time, weak economic sentiment has extended into [the] spring of this year," he said. "The cut in interest rates should contribute to support prospects of recovery later in the year." Along with the rate cut, the ECB also has extended cheap loans to banks to encourage them to lend. Those measures aim to combat a spate of grim economic news, showing sputtering growth and high unemployment rates across much of the eurozone. Thousands of Europeans have taken to the streets to protest tough austerity measures, sparking a debate on whether European governments went too far. But Draghi defended austerity as a necessary pill for many European economies that would pay off in the long run. He also said many of the reasons for stalling growth were rooted in areas other than monetary policy. "Many of the problems we see today in competitiveness, in their labor markets, in their tax area, don't have anything to do with monetary [policy] neither can they be fixed by monetary policy, but can only be fixed by changing what is wrong with these three areas, at least," he said. A number of experts are skeptical the ECB's moves will be enough to jolt the eurozone out of its slump. Zsolt Darvas, an analyst at the Brussels-based economic think-tank Bruegel, said the ECB should have cut its rates much earlier. "I think it won't be enough. I expect the European Central Bank will do more. They may cut interest rates further, to 0.25 percent, but in itself it won't help much. What will be needed is much more forceful action for helping revive credit growth throughout the euro area," said Darvas. Draghi left open the possibility of a further cut in the main interest rate, saying the ECB will be monitoring the situation closely in the months ahead

References: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/incoming/obama-urges-quick-passage-of-rescue-plan-formiddle-class/article1065421/ http://www.thestar.com/news/2008/11/08/obama_vows_to_act_swiftly_on_economy.html http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/03/business/ecb-rate-cut-monetary-policy/index.html http://www.voanews.com/content/ecb-cuts-rates-to-record-low/1653324.html