With the Olympics coming on, what's more poignant than the image of the sprinter hopefully awaiting the official time, only to learn he missed the record by 1/100th of a second? I'm in that same heartbroken mood for the Associated Press this morning. The wire service came so close to equalling the world record for revealing the Republican party affiliation of someone finding himself sideways of the law. Check out the first sentence from this AP story of April 17th:
A Republican congressional candidate was charged Thursday with felony burglary and criminal trespass stemming from an encounter last year with an ex-girlfriend.
Come on, guys. With just a little editing effort, you could easily have written "Republican congressional candidate so-and-so was charged . . . ", thereby tying that illustrious mark for outing Republican evil-doers.
Oh well. I suppose it's the intention that counts. Had the–allegedly–wayward candidate been a Dem, would AP have informed us at all? Personally, I go for the MSM style that slips the affiliation in softly, along the lines, round about the 11th para: "Democratic leaders said Mr. Smith had been a well-regarded member of its caucus."
H/t James Taranto, WSJ Best of the Web Today.
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Please, AP stylebook editors
April 19, 2008 - 08:34 ET by sarcasmoNotice and for once take pity on this dead horse. You people NEED A NONPOLITICAL STANDARD. Individual discretion by "fair" and "professional" journalists is NOT WORKING.
It's GOOD that you mentioned party affiliation in this scandal, but conservatives are rightly bustin' on you for it because you have a history of not mentioning party affiliation for Democrat scandals. It needs to stop. We've caught you too many times. Hell, I'll bet even Jer sees this one, in light of the sex-ring Sheriff AP story we busted you for literally yesterday, as problematic. Make up one standard and then abide by it. NB won't go away, but that way we can bust other, more interesting & less-blatantly-partisan, flavors of bias.
JMR
The tax & spend drug war looks racist in the real world.
We damn sure didn't see "A
April 19, 2008 - 08:40 ET by the strugglerWe damn sure didn't see "A Democrat sheriff was charged with running a sex slave operation."
I have to agree with some
April 19, 2008 - 09:02 ET by motherbeltI have to agree with some others who said in the other thread that it's probably extreme to expect them to mention everyone's affiliation down to the local sheriff and dog-catcher, but this is a Congressional candidate; so one would expect it, given the other times it's used.
BTW...has anyone else noticed that in street and yard signs, posters, etc..most state and local politicians are leaving out their party affiliation?
They test this stuff on focus groups.
April 19, 2008 - 09:10 ET by sarcasmoAs the parties have drifted closer to both eachother & socialism, it's no wonder individuals no longer wish to be associated with 'em. I'm still for a simple rule: If that "D" or "R" or "whatever" appeared on the voters' ballots at election time, it should also appear on readers' newspapers come scandal time. If a Supervisor of Elections is capable of doing it, so is a "professional" journalist, and this is Journalism 101.
JMR
The tax & spend drug war looks racist in the real world.
According to Jer, one of the
April 19, 2008 - 11:40 ET by ahusserAccording to Jer, one of the now numerous trolls, all these failures to label Dims and always label Repubs is just a coincidental, accidental oversight.
Jer's not a troll
April 19, 2008 - 12:24 ET by sarcasmoJer disagrees with us on the existence of this sort of bias, and that's life. OTOH Jer totally agrees with me on the need for a single standard on party labels in scandal stories, so NB can ever-in-hell stop beating this particular Journalism 101 dead horse. That's not trolling, that's a lefty agreeing with me -- a good thing. Whether a rule stops real bias or just what Jer sees as the appearance of bias without actual bias will be irrelevant if it's adopted. This means all we need is for "professional" journalists to act in their own self-interest.
JMR
The tax & spend drug war looks racist in the real world.
I guess it's commendable
April 19, 2008 - 08:51 ET by motherbeltI guess it's commendable that the word "Republican" wasn't in the headline....
Doh
April 19, 2008 - 09:00 ET by DontFeedTheTrollsSo this is a candidate, not an elected official. And the good sheriff the other day was an elected official. So Republican candidates get outed, democrat officials don't? Is that the rule?
No bias there.
D
Keep the ILLEGALS out, join NumbersUSA to send free faxes to your reps.
It's a common affliction
April 19, 2008 - 10:57 ET by mom_roxEditors have this affliction also as noted in this editorial about a state representative and his dilapidated and unsafe apartment complexes. The only clue to his party is the "GOP opponent" mentioned near the end.
My favorite phrase from the editorial:
It seems like such an odd phrase to use.
Note, the reporter usually manages to get the D-TX tag into his stories about this, but it's usually on the jump page toward the end the articles.
A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
- George Bernard Shaw, 1944
mom_rox,
April 19, 2008 - 12:08 ET by ThisnThatThat editorial was not AP; and we're talking about how AP consistently leaves out the D; and always puts in the R.
___________________________________
If you can read this, thank a teacher. If it is in English, thank a Soldier. - My barber
not exclusive
April 19, 2008 - 12:57 ET by mom_roxUnderstood, but that's why I used the word "also" just to show that this is not exclusive to the AP. (I realize that an editorial is different than a report, but the discretion is the same.)
A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
- George Bernard Shaw, 1944