Fox's Wallace Jumps the Gun on Bias Charge

If only Fox News host Chris Wallace could see headlines as well as he spots liberal media bias, he might not feel so aggrieved.

In an interview on WOR radio Wednesday, Wallace blustered about the declining death toll among U.S. troops in Iraq:

There is bias in the media...Do you know how many American soldiers were killed either in direct action or even in accidents in Iraq in the month of October? Thirty-four...That story is untold. I haven't heard it anyplace except Fox News....You don't see it in The New York Times. You don't see it in The Washington Post.

No, you don't see that story there...if you go looking for it before the month of October has even ended. See, those casualty figures have a funny way of creeping up on you if you start talking them up prematurely. Today, citing the release of the official monthly death toll -- 39, not Wallace's 34 -- both papers noted that it was the lowest such casualty figure since March 2006.

Wallace could be forgiven for missing the Times's story, which was "buried" on page A12, but not the Post's front-pager, headlined, "In Iraq, a Lull or a Hopeful Trend?" According to Nexis, the falling-death-toll story got play in a slew of other newspapers as well as on CBS News, NPR and, yes, CNN.

In other words, the only way Wallace could have not heard it "anyplace except Fox News" is if he gets all his news from his own network. Anyone think he'll apologize?