24 May 2005 Nice Stem Cell Bias, Voice of America

This Voice of America (?) report is headlined “U.S. Lawmakers Hand President Bush Defeat on Stem Cell Research.”

It begins:

In a challenge to President Bush, the House of Representatives has approved legislation by a vote 238 to 194 to expand federal government funding for research using embryonic stem cells. House action came just days after a new advance in stem cell research in South Korea, which many lawmakers say underscores the need to intensify stem cell research in the United States…

President Bush has pledged to veto this particular stem cell legislation. Therefore, assuming this stem cell bill makes it to the President’s desk, it won’t become law unless Bush’s veto is overridden. That takes a two-thirds vote. So far, proponents have only 55 percent of the House votes cast.

So Bush won.

To be fair, in paragraph 14, some distance below the headline, the article does mention that proponents failed to achieve a veto-proof majority.

The article also gives arguments in favor of the bill higher placement in the text, including the lead paragraph and paragraph three. Reasons for opposition to the legislation do not appear until paragraph four. Overall, sentences favoring the legislation accounted for 310 words; opposing it, 256.

The article also struck an unintentional lighter note by referring to Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney as “he.”