Paul Kiel May 30, 2006, 1:16 PM

Last night, I pointed out the shortcomings of John Solomon’s piece on Sen. Harry Reid (R-NV). Despite all that, I have to give Solomon a little credit for at least acknowledging in the second paragraph of his piece a key countervailing fact - that Reid was pushing and ultimately voted for a position counter to what the Nevada Athletic Commission wanted.

But this was apparently too even-handed for CNN.

Here’s the second paragraph from the longer version of Solomon’s story that ran off the wire:

Reid, D-Nev., took the free seats for Las Vegas fights between 2003 and 2005 as he was pressing legislation to increase government oversight of the sport, including the creation of a federal boxing commission that Nevada’s agency feared might usurp its authority. (emphasis mine)

And here’s the version of that paragraph as edited by CNN:

The Nevada senator took the free seats for Las Vegas fights between 2003 and 2005 from the Nevada Athletic Commission as he pressed legislation to increase federal oversight of boxing, including the creation of a government commission.

Do you see what’s missing? The fact that Reid voted against the party he was allegedly influenced by apparently isn’t worthy of mention.

Thanks to TPMm Reader G for the tip.

Late Update: Actually, this change came from the AP.

Harry Reid, John Solomon