Here's the tail end of Manuel Roig-Franzia Mexican Runner-Up Files Legal Challenge. It's as fine an example of "balanced," "he said/she said" stenography as I've come across in quite some time:

The challenge will assert, Camacho said, that the brother-in-law, Diego [Hildebrando] Zavala, was hired to develop software to review voter registration. López Obrador's supporters say the contract created a conflict of interest that could have been used to give Calderón an improper advantage.

In an interview before the election, the head of the electoral commission, Luis Carlos Ugalde, denied contracting with Zavala's company, known as Hildebrando.

"He denies it," said the Red King. "Leave out that part."

During the campaign, Calderón and his brother-in-law vigorously denied wrongdoing.

López Obrador also alleges that the electoral commission preprogrammed its computers before the election to show a Calderón victory. Electoral commission officials on Sunday denied the accusation.

What are the key facts WaPo's "balanced" coverage leaves out?

1. Hildebrando's contracts were a matter of public record, so it doesn't matter whether IFE's Ugalde denies their existence or not.

2. Hildrebrando's software has already been hacked.

C'mon guys! Cover the story! I can still remember how the Times covered the "bourgeios riot" in Florida 2000; only after it was all over did they run the story that these guys were Republican operatives, down from DC. Even though they had the video tape showing their faces almost immediately.

C'mon Pravda! You can do better than Izvestia!