Man. This is an example of the crap-tastic (and largely antiquated) traditional media mindset:
The Democrats are using their own tactics to make this last week of campaigning miserable for everyone. In the wonderful world of campaign mailers a group called the Values, Energy & Growth PAC (which is indirectly funded by the Democratic Party) is sending out mailers quoting Montana Cowgirl. Montana Cowgirl might be a useful blog for bias, liberal leaning entertainment, but as a credible source endorsing candidates, try again.
Hm. You're probably wondering what the whole story is, aren't you?
Let's start with the flier the PAC sent out that Banks is criticizing. Too bad we can't it from a "real" reporter, because Banks didn't bother either to find an image or quote it. But...Cowgirl did:
Tom Burnett says...
...the Gay-Straight Youth Support Group meets to recruit members. Tom is against gay-straight alliance youth groups meeting at Bozeman High.
He asks on his blog: "Is it only a matter of time before the umbrella covers pedophiles, necrophiles, and zoophiles? When will the high school advertise a group called Bestiality Acceptance Alliance, BAA?"
Burnett is a divisive politician. With prejudices against his fellow citizens, he cannot be representative in Helena.
The flier also provides a link to the Cowgirl post where the Burnett quote appears. Again, you won't find that on Banks' post, either.
The quote on Cowgirl's webpage was a cut-n-paste job from Burnett's blog. And now the link is broken because Burnett took his page down. Cowgirl, again, explains:
The reason the mailer cited my blog, I presume, is that shortly after Tom Burnett wrote these despicable anti-gay statements on his own website, he removed them. He removed it because locals in Bozeman were horrified. A few local folks even ran ads in the Chronicle, denouncing him for the comments....
Got it? Cowgirl's post is the only record of Burnett's post. Of course if you discount the quote because of Cowgirl's "bias" as "liberal leaning entertainment," I suspect a quick call to Tom Burnett was in order, eh?
I'm guessing Banks didn't even bother to investigate the story here. Which is too bad. Because it could have been a story - "mailer reprints false attack that partisan blogger fabricated!" Or a ruminative story about the difficulty of sorting through campaign accusations, what with all the partisanship, citing the mailer as an example of an accurate attack stemming from an otherwise biased blog. Or something.
But Banks simply dismissed the quote because it appeared on Cowgirl's post. H*ll, I'd bet $100 bucks Banks didn't even read the post.
And that, my friends, is lazy, prejudiced reporting.
Update: Sheer comedy gold. The same reporter wrote this in a post entitled, "Expect more from television reporters":
I acknowledge most reporters, like myself, who run through this market stumble and make mistakes. However, I don't believe this should be the excuse for blubbering idiots and missing the point stories. After all, we did go to school for this, and Helena viewers deserve more. Just because the viewers live in a smaller town, it doesn't mean they are any less educated or their issues matter any less.
So, as a consumer of news, I urge you to expect more... and if we aren't delivering you do have the remote. |
