Topic: NewsBusters
Tim Graham uses a May 31 NewsBusters post to promote the idea that Scott Roeder, suspect in the killing of abortion doctor George Tiller, had no ties to anti-abortion activists, grumbling that "it will be interesting to see how long it takes them to tell us, if it is indeed the case, that George Tiller's murderer was not affiliated with the prolife movement -- or if they will ever report it at all."
But the article Graham cites to back up his claim -- taken from the anti-abortion "news" site LifeNews.com, which has an interest in disassociating Roeder from the anti-abortion movement -- downplays evidence to the contrary. Graham quotes the article's assertion that "Roeder appears to have an affiliation with extremist political groups but not with the mainstream pro-life movement." But the article goes on to note that Roeder had posted messages "on the public forum at the Operation Rescue web site concerning Tiller," which it asserts are "Roeder's only ties to pro-life groups." Graham doesn't quote that part of the article.
Of course, neither Graham nor LifeNews can know that for sure at this point, since the investigation into Roeder has just begun. Nor can LifeNews know that, according to a section of the article that Graham also quoted, anti-abortion groups "genuinely condemned the Tiller shooting" -- that would be mind-reading, something we presume neither Graham nor article authorSteven Ertelt are capable of.
Nevertheless, Ertelt insists that Roeder "appears to have never been a member of any legitimate pro-life group that represents the majority of pro-life Americans." But making such pronouncements is Ertelt's job as LifeNews editor and CEO -- his website was formerly known as the Pro-Life Infonet and has a declared mission to "bring pro-life news to the pro-life community."
In other words, LifeNews is biased media outlet -- but it's a bias Graham likes, so there will be no MRC jihad against it.
