Our local paper ran a story yesterday about Republican allegations that one of the Democrats' leaders, who is also a state attorney, was violating a law prohibiting state employees from holding leadership in political parties. Now, I know that the paper is just reporting the Republicans' accusations, but would it kill them to do some research? I did. It took me a matter of minutes to determine that the law in question has a specific exemption for state employees who provide legal counsel. In other words - he's not violating the law at all. Why not point that out when you write the story - as it stands now, everyone who read that article thinks the guy violated the law - and he didn't!
In the interest of honesty here - I'm a self-described liberal on many issues, but I am an independent when it comes to political parties - I frankly don't care much for either party. I'm with Jim Wallis - the Right gets it wrong and the Left doesn't get it! The problem here, however, is not so much political inclination or "spin" as just a total lack of actual journalism. I mean are the days gone when you actually investigate a story before running it? Are we to go without an independent media? Must our media outlets simply accept what politicians feed them? I am a firm believer that democracy cannot survive without a strong, independent media. It's long past time for ours to start doing its homework!
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