Reporting Bad News Before It Happens

Example of Media Bias:

The excerpt below is an example of media bias by SPIN and STORY SELECTION.  It is from the February 8th “Best of the Web” by James Taranto found at OpinionJournal.com.  (For definitions of SPIN and STORY SELECTION, look under “Types of Media Bias” in the right column.)

Check out this Associated Press dispatch from Baghdad:

It’s too early to say whether last weekend’s vote has dealt a blow to the insurgency. But in Baghdad, where nearly a quarter of the Iraqi population lives, the absence of any catastrophic attacks in recent days has given people a cautious sense of security.

All that could change with a single deadly car bomb in the heart of the city or sustained mortar fire on the Green Zone.

Of course it could also change for the better with, say, the capture of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi or further improvements in the training of Iraqi security forces. The AP here is “reporting” news that hasn’t actually happened–and the only such news it anticipates is bad. Who says the press is biased?