Major League Baseball mourns one of their own, killed in a car crash.

The standoff between the U.S. Navy and four pirates holding an American merchant ship captain hostage continues at the time I write this. The situation provides us with a rather illuminating example of media bias. Read this report about the situation in The New York Times, then read this report about the situation in The New York Post. The facts they use are identical, but the tone of each article could not be any different. This is what I mean whenever I refer to media bias. In a newspaper example, bias is a product of the world view of the reporters and editors, but it is also the product of the sense of identity that the people who make up a newspaper believe their paper must maintain. So The New York Post positions itself in the marketplace differently than The New York Times, which accounts for differences in headlines, writing style, and length of articles, also how each paper prioritizes. The two articles illuminate how each paper responds to the exact same set of facts, not only in how they write the article (the angle they take), but also the style. For The New York Post, the standoff is characterized by weak, frightened pirates faced with the might of the U.S. Navy. For The New York Times, the standoff is seen as an indicator of the impotence of American military power. A terrific example of media bias. If you teach a media course (as I have done in the past), these articles make perfect examples.

Arthur Herman, who wrote a history of the Royal Navy, explains what needs to be done to combat piracy.

David Ignatius writes about the dangers facing Pakistan.

Charles Krauthammer writes about the weakness of the President.

Despite the recent big gains posted in the stock market, there is still fear out there about the economic outlook.