CNN Again Shows Bias

At the risk of being nit-picky about our nation's liberal media, I must point out yet another example of bias displayed by CNN.

CNN has been tracking the results of the weekly CNN/USA Today/Gallup polls. In the latest poll, for the period October 14 - 16, George Bush came out with an 8 point lead. Given the fact that this race has been too close to call, an 8 point lead by either candidate is major news. In addition, Kerry was leading by 1 point in the previous week, so the results indicated a 9 point swing in one week.

Given these results, what headline would you write? How would you clearly convey these surprising results in an eye-catching headline?

USANow would publish this headline: "Major Swing in Presidential Poll". Alternatively, "Bush Takes Lead in Latest Poll". Considering Bush went from 1 point down to 8 points ahead in one week, either one of those headlines would be appropriate. In fact, even "Bush Surges Ahead in Latest Poll" is a fair headline.

How does CNN characterize these poll results? "Poll: Presidential Race Still Tight". Still tight? An 8 point lead is "tight"? Perhaps CNN's wishful thinking is bleeding through to their headlines.

Here is the graphic and the accompanying headline from CNN's website.