[Kevin]

I think you paint CNN as a bit more liberal than it actually is (if it actually is).

They seem to go through a lot of effort not to push an agenda. However, it's unavoidable for the news media, in general to do this. CNN has to choose to cover certain stories. You'd really be surprised if you knew exactly how much stuff they put out. Not even a fraction of it ever makes it onto your TV screen. CNN's producers and your local news producers make that determination.

Often, they make that determination based on what they think you think is important. When you can only run 4-5 1-2 minute packages per newscast, you have a lot to choose from. In some cases you have liberal-minded folks that think you think what they think is important is important (follow?)

The process by which the media only covers certain things, conscious or not is known as agenda setting and it is widely studied in the communications/broadcasting field.

Take Fox News though, they are the only network with a decided agenda. For the most part, I guess you could call me a conservative-libertarian.. I watch and agree with many things that Fox does. Do I think it's the most credible/unbiased news source? Heck no.

It is virtually impossible to look at any news story and not be able to find some kind of bias. It may be consistant, it may be accidental, it may be on purpose. It's your job as an educated person to take the information they give you and form your own opinions. If you're interested in a topic, seek out more than one source.

When time for a broadcast is limited as it is and always will be, these problems will exist. I wouldn't get worked up about them, there will never be a "perfect" newscast.