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It's not that the original article, taken by itself, was all that horrifying...it's a subtle slant i his writing style. He needlessly uses phrases over and over and over again in that piece and then again as side comments in a half-dozen other pieces since then. He takes every opportunity he can to remind us all that Lueke is a CRIMINAL! (epmhasis his, echoed by me...not intended to be read as me yelling at the readers here) This is the reducto ad absurdem of how Baker has been writing this story into his pieces:
Today, we learned that CEO Howard Lincoln didn't have the right information regarding this EVIL RAPIST WHO PLED NO CONTEST TO HIS EVIL DEED WHILE A RANGER!!!! and this leads us to believe that Zduriencik either didn't do his homework before the trade was made and is covering for that failure or felt he had to lie to his bosses to get his deal through. BUT THIS EVIL MAN IS NOW WITH US and the consequences to the front office are certainly on display. P.S. LUEKE IS EVIL!!!!!!
Yes...I'm exaggerating for effect, but that is how the tone feels to me. He goes out of his way to throw those extra few words in about the no contest plea whenever he thinks he get them into a paragraph. He's doing this for a reason. His goal is get people in Seattle mad about the trade in an effort to make the front office comply with his philosophy of accountability...if that means Lueke has to get run out of town by a band of pitchfork wielding local soccer moms, then so much the better.
The most dangerous media bias is not the stuff that labels itself as biased. It's the subtle slant that the average reader will think is innocuous while a certain impression is being ingrained in their head. It's the softball questions going to one political candidate while the tough ones go to the other. It's the differences in connotation attached to certain word choices that sway public opinion when written as news and information, rather than opinion fodder. This stuff Baker has written about Lueke exemplifies my concerns about journalists slanting their reporting to suit a personal agenda. Baker didn't lie...he didn't distort the facts...he just chooses his words in ways designed to make you, the reader, angry at the Mariners, at Lueke and anything else necessary to put pressure on the front office.