The Seattle Times website currently carries an AP article on yet another political sex scandal:
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, a one-time rising star and Detroit's youngest elected leader, was charged Monday with perjury and other counts after sexually explicit text messages contradicted his sworn denials of an affair with a top aide.What party does Kilpatrick belong to? The article doesn't say, so the most reasonable conclusion is that Kilpatrick is not a Republican. Indeed, he is the Vice President of the National Conference of Democratic Mayors. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at March 24, 2008 10:43 AM | Email This
The Tri-City Herald says your wrong...
(Please prove TCH wrong...)
w/Editor's note: Here's a partial list of publications that included former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's party affiliation in articles about the call-girl scandal: The New York Times, Newsday, People magazine, Time magazine, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, the Seattle Times and the Tri-City Herald.
The Link:
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/965/story/136189.html
Corruption is not about race, religion, or creed. It is what it is. The mayor is a democrat as are most elected officials. Until locales get rid of one-party rule, nothing is going to change.
Unfortunately, in this state, the republicans have no strategy for urban areas and urban counties. What is happening with the pooled investment fund for King County and the effects of the subprime mess should be looked at.
Neither party has the answers, but there is less chance for corruption when two strong parties are watching each others moves.
Posted by: WVH on March 24, 2008 10:52 AMIt would nice to show headline/byline differences...
Posted by: Glenno on March 24, 2008 11:03 AM(obtopic: Detroit sucks, glad I moved away from it)
Posted by: brent on March 24, 2008 11:21 AMI had so much hope for Obama as a black man ready to bridge the gap. He is clean cut, wears appropriate attire, speaks well, but alas, he is no better than the other role models who hurt the blacks.
Posted by: swatter on March 24, 2008 11:39 AMThis is just one of the many bias points that "professional" journalists are supposed to not be victim of. But they are either by design or stupidity. I say it's intentional.
This is also just one more reason not to read today's newspapers. If with every article you have to do some sort of mental gymnastics just to get to the truth, why bother?
I wonder why the rest of the membership didn't get their pictures in the listing too. I would be livid if I were a Democrat mayor and they dissed me like that.
Just saying, you know?
Posted by: REBEL on March 24, 2008 11:46 AMGood job. Actions speak louder than blog postings.
I have a hard time imaging anyone who would assume that the Mayor of Detroit has an (R) next to his name. Gov. of NY, possibly, Detroit, not a chance.
Times Editor Kathy Best:
"In this case, although I read the AP story, I did not realize until I saw your note that it did not identify which party Spitzer was in. That was not a fact we were trying to hide; in fact, we did not edit the AP story at all. Had I known they left Spitzer's party affiliation out, we would have edited it IN to the piece. It is relevant and, given his previous status as a rising star in the Democratic Party, a key fact."
Contrary to her claims, as stated above, two more stories would follow their first without the identification before it would eventually show up buried well into an article.
As with much of the bias in the media, Ms. Best suggests there was no intent to hide his party. But isn't that the nature of "accidental" bias; that it occurs without intent as a result of inherent bias of the author? It's the only way to explain the rampant bias in the media, such as in AP stories from so many authors, without jumping to the conclusion of conspiracy.
Contrast Ms. Best's claim with the decision at the Times to identify disgraced mayor James West as a Republican in a headline? Or their decision to edit the AP story on the death of statutory rapist and former Democrat congressman Gerry Studds to remove his party affiliation, and soften the crimes he was eventually charged with.
Lack of intent is not a defense of bias. No one could argue that the decisions made in the West and Studds stories were committed without intent. And the continuing inability of the Times to report something as fundamental as party affiliation when Democrats are found in scandals leaves their credibility on the issue stretched beyond belief.
Posted by: MJC on March 24, 2008 12:27 PMYes they did, I think at paragraph 4 they refer to him as the democrat mayor.
Stefan's link is where I went...
Posted by: Chris on March 24, 2008 12:28 PMYou don't have to be a news/political junkie to know that Detroit has been run by (D) for at least a generation. In much the same way I would assume a person of average intelligence would guess that the Mayor of SF has a (D) and not an (R) next to their name since both are (D) strongholds.
Cato, get the moral of the story yet? Someday you will.
Posted by: swatter on March 24, 2008 01:17 PMAny guesses?
Exactly. "Cannot find Democrat"
Good thing only political junkies and not Jane and John Doe read USA Today, huh. /sarc
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-24-detroit-mayor_N.htm
Posted by: jimg on March 24, 2008 01:29 PM1) I doubt the 18-23 crowd still reads a newspaper
2) 23-30 crowd is more likely to read the sports section than the front page. With March Madness going on I doubt they'd give a damn if Detroit's mayor is (D) or (R).
3) If they did care about the Detroit scandal, Drudge (as I've heard described by Gen-Y as "everything you need to know on one page") is more than happy to point to an article that has the word Democrat and Mayor in the headline.
So did a lot of the articles on Jim West. As always, you fail to have a point.
Posted by: thehim on March 24, 2008 02:08 PMIn one of the Seattle dailies? I doubt that. Please post a link to an article that came out right after the story broke, and show us the non-party affiliation.
Posted by: Palouse on March 24, 2008 02:18 PMWow, and USA Today didn't bother to report on Jim West's party in his minor obituary.
In fact it looks like USA Today didn't even bother to cover the story. Damn liberal bias! =P
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/virgin/227750_virgin09.html
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/jimwest/story.asp?ID=111805_files
There are more obviously, if you care to find them.
Posted by: thehim on March 24, 2008 02:33 PMTouche' =)
The classic, though, was the Gerry Studds story upon his death in October 2006. The Times took the AP story that included his party affiliation and several of the details of his despicable acts with minors, and stripped them out to soften the story and disconnect Studds from the Democrat Party. The comparison between the Times edited version and the original AP version on the web at other newspapers was the real eye opener. The Times editor responsible for the cuts argued that the "D" in the description under the photo alongside the story justified the edits within the story taking out the affiliation. I'm sure it did for this editor. I also think that if he'd seen the "D" under the photo earlier, he'd probably have removed it there too.
Posted by: MJC on March 24, 2008 02:37 PMSeem the state with the goofiest governments is Texas, which is dominated by (you guessed it) Republicans.
There's a ton of articles and columns on West, and yes, not all of them mention his party, nor would we expect them to. Show me one news article about the scandal, when it broke, in a Seattle daily that did not mention his party. That is the equivalent of the Times not mentioning his party today.
Posted by: Palouse on March 24, 2008 02:55 PMWell there was this Democrat Gov named Ann Richards....
Hey if a few Republicans in a 1995 Democrat maroity government (House and Governorship)constitue Republican majority, then turnabout is fair play.
Posted by: pbj on March 24, 2008 02:59 PMHere is a headline from the Larry Craig affair:
GOP: Craig to quit over sex sting
By JOHN MILLER and MATTHEW DALY
The Associated Press
BOISE -- Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig will resign from the Senate amid a furor over his arrest and guilty plea in a police sex sting in an airport men's room, Republican officials said Friday.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003863649_craig01.html?syndication=rss
Now let's look at the Democrat Mayopr Shall we?
Detroit Mayor Charged With Perjury
By COREY WILLIAMS
Associated Press Writer
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was charged with perjury and other offenses Monday _ and got a stern lecture about the importance of telling the truth _ after a trove of raunchy text messages contradicted his sworn denials of an affair with his chief aide.
The 37-year-old "Hip-Hop Mayor" who brought youth and vitality to the job in this struggling city of 900,000 could get up to 15 years in prison for perjury alone and would be automatically expelled from office if convicted.
Ignoring mounting demands that he step down, Kilpatrick said: "I look forward to complete exoneration once all the facts have been brought forth. I will remain focused on moving this city forward."
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy brought charges of perjury, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and misconduct against the popular but polarizing mayor. In announcing the charges, she delivered something of a civics lesson on the importance of telling the truth under oath.
"Some have suggested that the issues in this case are personal or private," said Worthy, a Democrat like the mayor. "Our investigation has clearly shown that public dollars were used, people's lives were ruined, the justice system severely mocked and the public trust trampled on."
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004290083_apdetroitmayor.html
The liberal bias is clear. In the dirst story about a Republican it was GOP in the headline and Republican in the very first sentence.
In teh second story Worthy (not even the guy in trouble) was "a Democrat like the mayor".
What? So are they saying Worthy was a sleaze like the Mayor?
Good grief.
The mayor of Spokane dying = the indicted mayor of Detroit facing up to 15 years in prison.
It'd be easier to admit the bias than to continue to make yourself look sillier.
Posted by: jimg on March 24, 2008 03:16 PMWell if a GOP mayor had committed a similar crime in the last 10 years I'm all ears (Rudy doesn't count). The fact that Jim West scandal didn't even make USA Today (or at least their internal search engine) is telling in itself.
Senators are always identified by their party affiliation [R-(state name), D-(state name)]
This one points out Spitzer's affiliation a few paragraphs down.
Speaking of sex scandals, when will Sen. Vitter or Sen. Craig stepping down in response to their ethics scandals? Looks to me like the GOP is punishing Sen. Craig but turning a blind eye to Sen. Vitter's transgressions.
Jim West, a US mayor for Spokane in Washington state, who is at the centre of an FBI probe into accusations he offered municipal jobs to men he met in gay online chat rooms, said that he was the victim of a "brutal outing."
West, a 54-year-old Republican opponent of gay rights, has been under fire since The Spokesman-Review newspaper reported allegations last week that he molested two boys while he was a sheriff's deputy and Boy Scout leader in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
There is simply no comparison to what originally appeared in the Times this morning.
Posted by: Palouse on March 24, 2008 03:40 PMYou may be right, but since it's so easy to update/change AP/Newspaper articles on the web we'll never know.
Has either been convicted? Isn't that your stock response in regards to people like William Jefferson, who the Democrat party promoted to the Homeland Security comittee?
Regardless, your red herring has nothing to do with the liberal media bias, such as the liberal biased New York Times. That paper is probably THE most liberal biased in the nation.
Posted by: pbj on March 24, 2008 04:16 PMThat is not true. USA Today was all over it:
Spokane mayor accused of molesting boys decades ago
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- Mayor James West, a Republican foe of gay rights, was accused in a newspaper story Thursday of molesting two boys decades ago and was caught by the paper using the trappings of his office to try to court a young man on a gay Web site.
Spokane mayor urges privacy online after 'brutal outing'
Spokane mayor again says he won't resign
@48:
"This one points out Spitzer's affiliation a few paragraphs down."
Link doesn't work.
Posted by: pbj on March 24, 2008 04:25 PMlook--any party aside--why do the (we) dufus (dufi) voters keep re-electing these shart-heads? both sides of aisle...
sad...speaks volumes against US...peception is reality...we leave them in, we get their legacies...
Hellooooooooooooooooooooooooooo?
Hellooooooooooooooooooooooooooo?
Posted by: pbj on March 25, 2008 09:02 AMTwo weeks since the ABC and NBC evening shows took multiple days before getting around to informing viewers that disgraced New York Governor Eliot Spitzer belonged to the Democratic Party -- after every ABC, CBS and NBC morning and evening news program last year immediately highlighted the party of Republican Senators David Vitter and Larry Craig -- Monday's broadcast network evening newscasts all failed to note, verbally or on-screen, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's party. ABC anchor Charles Gibson announced on World News: "Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was charged today with felonies that could cost him his job and 15 years in prison." NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams relayed how "Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick...was indicted on perjury and other charges in the wake of a sex scandal there." (NBC also refused to tag Kilpatrick in a full story aired Friday night.) Over on Monday's CBS Evening News, fill-in anchor Harry Smith introduced a full story: "In Detroit, a sex scandal led to criminal charges today against the Mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, a married father of three."
Posted by: MJC on March 25, 2008 10:07 AMIt is so obvious it is ridiculous. But, you guys make it even more so.
Posted by: swatter on March 25, 2008 10:16 AMHow would you report Joe Lieberman's political affiliation? Is he an Independent or a Democrat? When I read a story that contains a political party designation, I come to the conclusion that the party had captured the office. In this case, Kirkpatrick captured the office without a partisan designation. The stories that have caused the current firestorm, accurately reflect that fact.
Posted by: Ed Scherer on March 25, 2008 11:07 AMLiberal.
Media.
Bias.
The New York Times is the biggest liberal biased newspaper.