KEVIN TRACY: Okay, I called the press gaggle in today to air a grievance with you all. We've been discussing the progressive-bias of media reporting for years on KTracy.com, but it's largely been focused on US politics. However, the press coverage of this weekend's Parliamentary elections in Italy on Sunday.

I'm going to read something to you directly from the Associated Press by Frances D'Emilio and Colleen Barry in an article titled 'Crucial' vote could move Italy to right; many boycott.

Soaring energy costs and quickly climbing prices for staples like bread — the consequences of Russia’s invasion of breadbasket Ukraine — have pummeled many Italian families and businesses.

Against that bleak backdrop, Giorgia Meloni and her Brothers of Italy party — with neo-fascist roots and an agenda of God, homeland and Christian identity — appear to be the front-runners in Italy’s parliamentary election.

They could be a test case for whether hard-right sentiment is gaining more traction in the 27-nation European Union. Recently, a right-wing party in Sweden surged in popularity by capitalizing on peoples’ fears about crime.

Really Frances and Colleen?

I'm going to pick apart the bias here since your editors failed to do it for you.

Your Biased Title reads: 'Crucial' vote could move Italy to right; many boycott.

Your Unbiased Title reads: Sunday Election could move Italy to right.

Putting 'Crucial' in quotes makes it look like the election is only being called crucial. All elections are crucial in a democratically elected country. Relative to the size of the electorate in Italy, there really aren't that many boycotting the election. This is just an attempt to call into question the mandate of the incoming conservative government.

The first paragraph completely ignores any responsibility that may be held by the current ruling coalition. They royally botched its response to COVID-19 and decimated its economy with months-long lockdowns rivaled only by Communist China. Without a doubt, Russia's war in Ukraine is a contributing factor to the economic stress in Italy, it's not the only reason. Just blaming Russia for Italy's plethora of problems is lazy.

The real problems begin in the second paragraph. The first thing you mention about Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party isn't their platform; isn't their front runner status (which you call into question by saying "appear to be front-runners"); but "neo-fascist roots". Come on. To illustrate the absurdity of this, imagine Frances and Colleen writing about American politics and saying, "Joe Biden and his Democrat Party with their Pro-Slavery roots appear to be front runners in next Tuesday's election." The difference is that Joe Biden's Democrat Party in the United States has much stronger roots in slavery than Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party has in fascism. While the Democrats in the United States actually supported slavery and had former KKK members in the US Senate until 2010; the Brothers of Italy was an offshoot of The People of Freedom party in 2012. The People of Freedom Party came about after the National Alliance party folded in 2009. The National Alliance Party started after the Italian Social Movement broke apart in 1995. The Italian Social Movement Party was started in 1945 by one-time members of the banned National Fascist Party; which was banned after the allies defeated Italy in World War II. In other words, Brothers of Italy is removed from its National Fascist Party roots by 80 years with four separate political parties rising and falling between the two. To connect Brothers of Italy to the fascism of Italy's past is not only irresponsible activism in journalism, but just plain wrong.

In the third paragraph, you correctly state that this could be a test case for trends across the European Union; but calling Brothers of Italy "hard" right is again unnecessary. Brothers of Italy are a socially conservative and nationalist party; but with the exception of illegal immigration, their moderate stands on membership in the European Union, NATO, the War in Ukraine, and others suggest they probably don't deserve the "hard" label. Additionally, with regards to the rise of the Sweden Democrats party, the party didn't capitalize on people's fear of crime. The Sweden Democrats are a strong anti-immigration party and the people of Sweden have been growing increasingly worried about the influx of immigrants and the surge in crime they brought to their country.

Call it like it is. A socially conservative, pro-life, pro-traditional marriage party is set to take power in Italy. Calling into question their mandate by promoting a small boycott of the election or going down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole connecting them to Italy's fascist past doesn't change the fact that the ruling coalition in Italy has failed the Italian people in several ways and the people are responding by likely kicking them out of office.

The bias, half-truths, and lies won't help make Italy or the world better.