| Part Two: This diary is Part Two of the opening salvo in Blue Jersey's NJ Media Watchdog Series, examining how the news media New Jerseyans are turning to for information are doing in presenting the news we all depend on to make our decisions. Star Ledger is New Jersey's largest circulation newspaper, and its largest online newspaper as well. You can read Part One here, if you missed it.
In Part One yesterday, we took a look at two issues in the Governor's race that the Star-Ledger handled with "kid gloves", or at a minimum, didn't do the full story justice. Below, we will look at two other issues in a similar vein.
Before we do, I want to address a general issue that will certainly come up again as we continue to examine other traditional media outlets. There were a few comments asking whether we were succumbing to the same "bias" as we are noting that the Star-Ledger had exhibited. While this is a valid question, I feel the answer is "no" for a few reason. For starters, I am not sure there are many (if any) people in NJ who think that Governor Corzine is being treated as a "media darling", or has gotten a pass on his stances. With Corzine, there are generally few who (if they are truly being unbiased) think he is either corrupt or hypocritical. He may not have been as effective as he would have liked to have been - some his fault and some not. But here ,we are not talking about minor issues that are blown up into something bigger. Those are things I don't care about - regardless of whether they are against Corzine or Christie (in fact, I have been critical of Democrats both here and at Daily Kos on numerous occasions). What we are talking about here is the overall central theme of Christie's campaign and gaping holes in his stories, conflicts of interests on an ethical level and things that he has prosecuted others for, while explaining away when it happens to him. If he were to come out with any policy points, those could be debated on the merits, but sadly, he has yet to offer anything up that isn't the same old slogans that trumpet failed Bush era policies.
************************
As I said yesterday: There is one huge pet peeve that I have when it comes to the traditional media, and it is traced directly back to FOX News and its nonsensical "fair and balanced" meme. This falsely presents a story as "one side against the other" as opposed to actually, you know, reporting the facts as is without having it become a "he said/she said" partisan matter.
Yes, some things are truly partisan matters, and having each "side" give their story or quote give the story "balance" but usually it is at the expense of actual and true events. There may be 2 "sides" to a story, but generally to me, the 2 sides are "facts" and "not facts". The facts can be spun or presented as partisan, but oftentimes that is just one side trying to explain away or cloud the actual truths and events as something that has 2 equal cases for.
The Star-Ledger is NJ's biggest newspaper. It is the go-to paper for politics, and every other aspect of daily life in New Jersey. We depend on them in all parts of the state. It has columnists with wide readership. It is, in short, THE paper in NJ, and that is why we decided to focus on them first.
Christie's loan to Brown
Similar to the two items noted yesterday, when it came to the $46,000 loan that Christie made to a subordinate, without reporting it in numerous places, nor reporting the interest, the initial story noted it as such, while the subsequent headline noted that he failed to report the interest. However, failing to report that Christie investigated and prosecuted those who did the same thing, as well as not noting how Christie had a "zero tolerance" for this when it came to others, the subsequent articles took it as a "he said/she said" story - even drawing a false comparison to Carla Katz and her non working relationship with Governor Corzine. Other headlines indicated Gov. Corzine, NJ Dems continue to attack Chris Christie over unreported $46K loan (August 19) and NJ governor candidate Chris Christie fires back at Democrats over $46,000 loan criticism (August 24) - noting that the criticism is at issue, not Christie's behavior.
Christie's driving record and the REAL issue
I'll point out a fourth one - the ones about Christie's driving record. The article titled GOP gov. candidate Chris Christie not issued traffic ticket after accident that injured motorcyclist in 2002 mentions how Christie identified himself as US Attorney to get out of a ticket, but doesn't do any basic homework in the only subsequent article, titled GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie downplays driving record. Nothing about Christie lying about not being sued, or about the changing story from him going to the swearing in vs. coming from the swearing in, or about how the officer drove Christie to his office, or, the biggest one of all, how Christie broke DOJ rules by pulling rank on his traffic stop(s).
************************
In closing, and as I said yesterday, I don't know if this is because the reporters are overwhelmed, if this is a directive from their bosses or if it is the basic state of mainstream journalism now (I hope it isn't this one). But it does show that the facts get blurred, obscured and buried time and time again for a story of "partisan bickering".
No wonder NJ voters are sick of partisan bickering - that is how every story is presented, in a dumbed down version that leaves out the most important information. |
