6 months after his science adviser said that 'intelligent design is not a scientific theory,' Bush says it 'ought to be properly taught' in school

Wash. Post overlooked apparent Bush administrat ... [Media Matters for America]: "Wash. Post overlooked apparent Bush administration contradiction on intelligent design | 8-3-2005

Six months after his own science adviser said that 'intelligent design is not a scientific theory,' President Bush stated on August 1 that the concept -- whose proponents claim that life is so complex that only an intelligent guiding force could have created it -- 'ought to be properly taught' alongside evolution in public schools. Yet, unlike reports by the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, an August 3 Washington Post report on Bush's remark failed to address the statement of the adviser, John H. Marburger III, even while citing conservative claims that intelligent design is, in fact, scientific.

An August 3 Los Angeles Times report noted that Marburger's statement 'seemed to differ with the president.' Similarly, a New York Times report the same day pressed Marburger to explain the apparent discrepancy.

But the Post article, by staff writers Peter Baker and Peter Slevin, noted that '[m]uch of the scientific establishment says that intelligent design is not a tested scientific theory' without mentioning that Bush's own science adviser is among that contingent. Similarly, the report neglected to include Marburger's assessment that intelligent design is not 'scientific' even while reporting claims by Bush and several other advocates of the theory suggesting that it is:"