More Media Distortion

I have little to no respect for what passes as journalism and media in this country. Even with that in mind, every day it seems, I am shown how much I obviously overestimate their honor, intelligence, truthfulness, and diligence.
Rush calls them the ‘Drive-by Media’.
But I think things are worse even than that. Most so called journalist are painfully under educated as to the substance of the stories they cover. But worse still are those whose ideology blurs the lines of ethics and infects their work with wink-wink half truths or even outright lies.
Today in The Chicago Sun-Times
was the perfect example of the latter.
Zay Smith, an obvious Leftist and ‘writer’ of the QT section, crossed the line from ideological opinion into downright deception with this line...

Capitol gains
News Item: Vice President Dick Cheney receives $1.9 million tax refund.

Is the statement true? Well, yes it is.
But does it tell the whole story? Or is it made merely to anger those who hate Mr. Cheney and believe the rich love nothing more than to cheat on their taxes?Does it give all the facts? Or is it simply another Bush hater using his to pulpit smear the administration through distortion and half-truths?
Here is the rest of the story from The Wichita Eagle,
a newspaper a tad more interested in telling the whole truth.

The Cheneys reported adjusted gross income of nearly $8.82 million.
The Cheneys donated about $6.87 million to charity from stock options and royalties earned on Lynne Cheney's books.
After subtracting the charitable contributions, the Cheneys' income was $1.95 million on which they owed $529,636 in taxes, according to a statement released by Cheney's office.
Since the Cheneys paid $2.46 million in withholding and estimated taxes over the year, they were entitled to a refund of about $1.93 million.

So, was Mr. Smith’s one-liner the work of an ethical journalist interested in uncovering the truth?
You can be the judge.
And then e-mail Mr. Smith at qt@suntimes.com and let him know what you think of the honor and integrity he so obviously feels for and instills in his so called ‘work’.

Crossposted @ Total Kaos Blog