No bias here...

The Washington Post has an article on The administration's efforts to bypass the national media and talk directly to the American people. But does it actually discuss the issue? Grapple with the reasons the administration might be unhappy? No, the article instantly morphs into a discussion of those form letters that were sent to newspapers...

....Yesterday, Bush granted exclusive interviews to five regional broadcasting companies -- an unprecedented effort to reach news organizations that do not regularly cover the White House.

The effort by Bush to reach out to about 10 million Americans through the regional broadcasters -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Iraq administrator L. Paul Bremer had similar sessions previously -- came two days after it emerged that soldiers in Iraq have sent form letters home to local newspapers asserting that the U.S. troops had been welcomed "with open arms" in Iraq.... (via Betsy)

Everyone who strolls the blogshore knows that the have been heaps of real letters sent by troops expressing astonishment about the biased coverage of the war. And asserting that most Iraqis have in fact welcomed them with open arms. The real letters weren't "news." But now that there is an incident of false letters, that's NEWS, baby!

It's classic smear technique. They don't actually say that the Administration is peddling lies. That would be something you could challenge them on. They just select one incident that sounds phony, fill half the article with that, and hope that the ugly tint of falsity will spread over the whole fabric. And notice how, without actually saying it, they imply that the Administration's move is a response to the exposure of the form letters...

You watch. We are going to hear tons about those letters from the Bush-haters. They are hungry for any issue that will cover up the simple fact that they are the ones who are pushing lies. Those form letters will become part of the whole amorphous "Bush lied" lie, (Ignoring of course the inconvenient fact that the letters were telling the truth about the situation.)