Bias in headlines

Newspaper headlines are sound bites, and often reveal bias. Consider this report from the Des Moines Register yesterday, "Majority of profs lean left at Iowa schools," about the political affiliation of faculty at Iowa colleges and universities.

Overall, counting multiple Christian colleges as well as secular schools, faculty: "Of the more than 2,400 faculty registered to vote, 55 percent are Democrats. Independents make up 28 percent and Republicans about 16 percent."

The story features the University of Iowa, however. "For every eight Democratic professors at the U of I, there is one Republican....Faculty in some disciplines, such as business and agriculture, are more conservative than professors in education or liberal arts, Knight said. [Iowa State University's] College of Business is the only unit in the Register's review in which Republicans outnumber Democrats. In that department, there are twice as many Republicans. In comparison, the U of I's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has a dozen registered Democrats for every Republican."

Check the headline again -- 16% Republican overall, only one unit in the entire state where Republicans outnumbered Democrats, the U of I ratio at 8:1 -- this is lean left? Keep in mind, too, the state population is almost exactly 50-50 Democrat-Republican, with less than 3% registered Independent.