On right wing think tanks and baptists

from http://nzmediabias.blogspot.com/
Monday, April 30, 2007

As the perceiving reader no doubt is aware of, the NZ Herald never labels a think tank as left wing. They're either think tanks or right wing thing tanks. Never left wing think tanks or right wing think tanks.

In the smacking debate we see the same bias at work. We have right wing (christian) fundamentalists and unnamed, good-willing on the other side. They're never Satanists, communists or Trotskyists.

In the debates in the scientific literature, Dr Larzelere has been the leading proponent of smacking.

Canadian Joan Durrant, who was brought to New Zealand by the Government last year, has led the opposing argument that smacking produces a more violent society, citing Sweden as a model of a society where a smacking ban has reduced violence.

Dr Larzelere, 62, attends a Baptist Church near the university where he works in Oklahoma, but he rejects Dr Durrant's allegation that this makes him biased.

When was the last time the NZ Herald printed personal information about someone who opposes smacking? Who is Joan Durrant? We don't know, and we never will.

But Thank God for Google.