One of this writer's pet peeves is bias in the media, which is done either by between-the-lines editorializing in the story or by careful omission of certain facts to sway the reader to take a certain position on whatever issue is being reported.

But if a reader is already well aquatinted with an issue, a story with spin can easily be spotted.

So when the New York Times did a story this past weekend about the controversy over a proposed Bible Theme Park outside of Murfreesboro, I immediately took notice. The piece was titled "Cool Reception for Bible Park in Bible Belt" and it appears to this writer that parts of the story had a tone of smug condescension toward the faith of folks in this region.

Most of the local coverage I've read on this topic has been focused on neighbor's concerns about the growth, traffic and noise the park would bring. Promoters tend to cite new jobs and the economic benefits as the plus side, but the recent development boom in that county has residents turning a deaf ear.

The growth issue was only mentioned twice in the Times story. A great deal of the focus was about people here in the Bible Belt not wanting a religious theme park. The lead paragraphs of the piece were about how the pastor of Blackman United Methodist Church was against it.

I would say that there are a lot of reasons why someone wouldn't want a giant theme park next door to their homes and just about every part of it would be about property values, sprawl and related topics. But those issues got scant mention in the Times' version of the tale.

There has always been those on both coasts of this nation who look down on the beliefs and lifestyles of people in the South and "fly-over country" and this elitist mindset frequently seeps into major media organs. I've read several pieces from authors for major papers that treat a story assignment from here or the Midwest as a trip to a third world county.

When one of the test cells at AEDC exploded in the 1980's, the Miami Herald sent a "reporter" to Tullahoma, who proceeded to pen one of the most slanted pieces of "journalism" committed to newsprint.

The writer made it look like we were a bunch of uneducated BBQ-munching rednecks who had no idea what went on at the top secret military base right outside of town which was just plain silly since most of us spent much of our childhood riding our bikes all over the Area 51 of the South and our fathers were literally rocket scientists.

The story was also written during the time when Reagan's missile defense proposals were heavily criticized in the media and since it was rocket fuel that detonated at AEDC, it was an offhand way to slam the president.

But then one young writer replied in the local paper with a great piece on the city of Miami, citing its status as the Hong Kong of the Western World with all of the drug dealing, corruption and pitched street battles involving automatic weapons that made that fine city famous in those days.

Today, the Internet has given everyone access to newspapers all over the world and if someone comes to your area or hometown and files a biased story, it's likely that everyone there is going to find out about it pretty quickly and respond to it.

Writers from major media organs will do well to remember this fact.