The Los Angeles Times and CNN.com came to different conclusions on Wednesday about the results of the vote in California over Proposition 8, with the Los Angeles Time reporting on Wednesday morning (local time) that "California voters approve Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriages," while CNN stated that the "California ban on same-sex marriage undecided." As of late Wednesday morning, 95% of the precincts had reported their vote tallies, and 52% had voted in favor of the proposition, while 48% voted against it.

Staff writers Jessica Garrison, Cara Mia DiMassa, and Nancy Vogel, who wrote the LA Times article, gave a straight-forward outline of the battle over Proposition 8 during the past months, summarizing who had supported and opposed the proposal. On the other hand, the unsigned CNN story devoted only the first three paragraphs to the California proposition, and spent the rest of the article to ballot initiatives in other states.

CNN’s article began by declaring that the "outcome of an effort to ban same-sex marriage in California remained unclear Wednesday," despite the following sentence which reported that "[a]s of 9 a.m. (noon ET), Proposition 8, which would eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry in California, had the support of 52 percent of voters, with 95 percent of precincts reporting." The following four paragraphs explained what the proposal did, and how similar proposals to ban same-sex "marriage" were passed in Arizona and California.

Later in the CNN article, the unnamed author inserted biased language concerning the issue of abortion: "Two proposals that would have limited reproductive rights were defeated." Actually, there were three such proposals in California, Colorado, and South Dakota. What did these proposal do that would have "limited reproductive rights"? California’s Proposition 4 would have required parental notification two days before an abortion on a minor could be performed. Colorado’s "Personhood Initiative" would have amended the state’s constitution to define human "personhood" as beginning at fertilization/conception. Initiated Measure 11 in South Dakota would have banned abortions, except in cases of rape and incest, and when the life of the mother was threatened. All three ballot initiatives were rejected at the polls.

One would guess in CNN’s view, legally recognizing the scientific fact that human life begins at conception and requiring that abortionists inform the parents of minors before an abortion is performed on them is so burdensome that it would have "limited reproductive rights."

—Matthew Balan is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.