Bias Beyond Belief

Former Congressional staffer and journalist Susan Lindauer was arrested today and charged with being an agent for Iraq. If convicted, the Takoma Park, Md., resident could spend 10 years in jail.

Lindauer worked for four Capitol Hill Democrats (Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore; Rep. Ron Wyden, D-Ore; Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, D-Ill.; and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.). She formerly wrote for U.S. News & World Report and for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Lindauer also is a second cousin of Andy Card, the current White House Chief of Staff.

So what's the AP headline?

Accused spy is cousin of Bush staffer

Liberal media? You think?

The MSNBC story's even worse, as blogger RanckandFile found: Lindauer's relationship to Card is in the subhead, but you have to read 'till graph 8 before learning it was Card himself "who alerted authorities to his relative's activities." Not until graph 15 does MSNBC mention her four Congressional Democrat former employers. (via Instapundit.)

Update:

It's not just AP and MSNBC! According to MRC, the Lindauer stories on CBS and NBC Thursday evening news didn't mention that the alleged agent worked only for Democrats. Yet both networks faithfully reported her distant kinship to Bush Chief of Staff Andrew Card. Similarly, though the WaPo's initial Lindauer story--posted on its website Thursday evening--named her four Dem bosses, the version in Friday's WaPo (dead tree edition) mentions Andy Card seven times before including this vague reference to Lindauer's politics and employers:

Lindauer worked as a press aide for some Democrats in Congress in the mid-1990s and as recently as 2002.

Saturday's WaPo coverage is little better--Lindauer is a "former congressional staffer . . . to several Democratic members of Congress." Though Saturday's article never names Lindauer's ex bosses, the WaPo references Card four times--without mentioning that Bush's Chief of Staff himself alerted police to his cousin activities.