Media bias isn’t limited to the U.S., obviously. If anything, the left-wing domination of the media may be even more pronounced in Europe.

Case in point: French newsman Jean-Claude Dassier, who readily admits to skewing coverage of the recent French riots. As violence and fires raged in some 300 French cities and towns, Dassier, the general director of the French TCI news channel, was doing his best to downplay them. Why? He feared that showing images of the riots would build support for right-wing politicians. Not only did he hide certain images from the public, but he readily admits his motivation:

“Politics in France is heading to the right and I don’t want rightwing politicians back in second, or even first place because we showed burning cars on television,” Mr Dassier told an audience of broadcasters at the News Xchange conference in Amsterdam today.

“Having satellites trained on towns across France 24 hours a day showing the violence would have been wrong and totally disproportionate ... Journalism is not simply a matter of switching on the cameras and letting them roll. You have to think about what you’re broadcasting,” he said.

The American media plays similar tricks. Throughout my life, I’ve seen the horror of President Kennedy’s assassination replayed countless times—despite it happening nearly a decade before my birth—yet the horrors of people jumping from the World Trade Center towers are never shown on television, not anymore. That, I guess, might inflame passions.

In the French media, Dassier isn’t alone:

“Do we send teams of journalists because cars are burning, or are the cars burning because we sent teams of journalists?” asked Patrick Lecocq, editor-in-chief of France 2.

Once could ask the same question about terrorist attacks in Iraq, which seem designed to demoralize the American public and weaken our resolve as much as they’re designed to strike fear into the souls of Iraqis. Yet each attack ends up being the top story on the news. Could it be that political calculations are shaping news coverage here at home, too?

You’ve got to give Dassier credit for one thing: at least he owns up to his bias. Our media isn’t honest enough to do that.