Newspaper political blogs are becoming more and more popular these days, causing bloggers to have to answer to critics and allegations of bias on a daily basis.

Sam Taylor of the Bellingham Herald may have crossed the lines while responding to these critics in one of his posts. His post accused critics of failing to see other points of view, with a photo included, whether it was to drive home his point or to add humor is unknown.

The photo was of himself holding an AK-47. Above the image, he wrote, "Maybe this makes me right wing.” Below the photo he wrote, "Did I forget to mention this? This is how I spent my Thanksgiving holiday in Idaho with family. Shooting AK-47s. Does this make me right-wing?"

In the posting he wrote the following: "I’d like to continue the discussion here about bias. I’m curious what you all think about this issue. I’ve been accused of being a liberal and a right-winger during the course of my journalism career, and on this very blog (and in e-mail)," he wrote. "It appears that the reason why people come to such conclusions is because I’m just not reporting their perspective, I’m trying to cover all sides. Some people just can’t seem to accept that their (sic) are other viewpoints than theirs. Sure, yours might be correct, but does that mean that nobody else should be covered?"

Taylor said that he posted the photo to make the point that it is wrong to label him or anyone a liberal or conservative based on appearance.

Since the item was posted on Monday, it had received 31 comments as of Wednesday morning. Taylor responded to several of the postings with his own comments in the comment section. Among those: "I was trying to make the point that people seem to have false impressions of not only me and the work I do but about each other. Plus, the picture is hilarious, I mean - come on."

Source: Editor & Publisher