It is natural and expected that different news agencies choose different stories to cover and have different perspectives. For this Presidential campaign, a current example is in the coverage of the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, and the Obama administration’s response.

The general thinking from the right is well explained in this article "Mainstream media watchdogs are toothless covering Obama and Libya scandal” by Fox News (AllSides Bias Rating: Right). Those on the left appear to be thinking that the right media are inflaming this story or jumping too quickly to unfounded conclusions when more prudence is needed. After all, international events like this are seldom as simple as they first appear.

(Scroll to the bottom if you want to see a detailed timeline of what was said, when, or what actually happened during the attack.)

Is the left burying this story?

One source that has an AllSides Bias Rating (ABR) of Lean Left, CBS News, actually broke the most recent story about internal emails informing the administration about events immediately after the attack. Also, just one day after the attack, CBS reported that the consulate attack was suspected to be an act of terrorism.

However, the follow-up to the story from media rated Lean Left or Left has been much less and softer than seen from media rated Lean Right or Right. While the Libya controversy has been a front page story for Fox News, The Washington Times, Newsmax, The Washington Examiner and others, it has been absent from the recent front pages and headline news of The Washington Post, The New York Times, CBS, NBC and ABC, and sometimes entirely absent (not just buried but non-existent coverage on days when it is front page coverage elsewhere).

Is the right trying to create a story?

Bottom line, we don’t argue who is right or wrong, nor does it matter. We here at AllSides just think this is another example, and in this case a particularly important one so close to the election, to get your news from more than one source. We don’t think people should rely on any single source, either from the left or right, to decide what they should know or not.

The best answer available to us today is to look at the news and issues from different sources coming from contrasting points of view – and that is what we make fast and easy at AllSides.com. Then you decide – not some editorial board.

Still confused about what happened, what was said, and when?

The best overview I have seen about what was said and when is the "Benghazi Timeline - The long road from 'spontaneous protest' to premeditated terrorist attack" which came out on Friday from FactCheck.org (ABR: Center). Back in late September, The Fact Checker at The Washington Post (ABR: Lean Left) also did a nice timeline of statements.

For more information of what exactly happened and when during the attack itself, see "How the Benghazi Attack Unfolded" from The Wall Street Journal (ABR for the news section: Lean Left).