April 15, 2004, 05:14 PM

Subtle Bias On The Corrections Page

By Kevin Whited

Bias can sometimes be so subtle that the perpetrators don't even realize they're being biased.

Check out this correction from the Chronicle:

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is vice chair of the Senate Republican Conference, which sets broad policy themes, coordinates a political message for GOP senators and helps defend President Bush's policies. A Feb. 1 Washington Notebook item on Page 23A incorrectly described her post.

Do you see the problem with the italicized portion?

Helps DEFEND. Not "helps promote" (a positive statement) or "acts as liason with Presidential policy staff" (a neutral statement), but "helps defend" -- implying that there is great outcry against the President's policies, and the Senate Republican Conference is just part of his PR machine. That's misleading, inaccurate, and subtly biased.

And it's on the corrections page, no less. Classic Chronicle.

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