Associated Press
Early Sunday morning, the Associated Press reported that an Iowa councilman was attacked at a bar and politics was to blame. Was Nancy Pelosi right; is today’s political rhetoric sparking violence among voters? If so, are Fox News, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh to blame?
The premise is almost ludicrous, upon even a basic examination of the story, any journalist who would find Politics the primary motive for the attack, would also use the tagline, “knife causes convenience store robbery in Milton!” Dissimulating the facts, AP was able to fit the story into a context that worked for their pretext; conservative political rhetoric is promoting violence.
However, the local paper where AP located the report detailed the incident apolitically. The local paper did not reference any motive based upon reasons of political difference, but instead details only a disparaging comment made two years prior to the incident, and an uncle's wish to defend his niece. Jeff Lundquist, Managing Editor of the Atlantic News Telegraph , published he following report,
“ATLANTIC - Atlantic First Ward City Councilman Kern Miller was seriously injured Friday night when he was apparently attacked in a downtown bar... According to police, the incident happend at 6:48 p.m. when Miller was sitting in the Elbow Room bar discussing Nebraska football with two women. Apparently without warning he was grabbed around the neck by Ryan Dean Johnson, 48 of Atlantic, pulled off his seat beaten and punched in the face. Witnesses say that Johnson stated that he had wanted to do this for the last two years over something Miller may have said about his niece Katrina Martin. Miller and Martin had squared off two years ago in the race for the First Ward Council seat… Neither Miller nor Johnson were reportedly intoxicated… Miller was taken to Cass County Memorial Hospital and later transported to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha where he remained Saturday. Officials were not releasing the extent of his injuries… Johnson has been charged with aggravated assault.”
The AP version can be found here.
Politics was only mentioned as background, but in the local paper, a source closer to the incident, the Managing Editor said only that “Johnson stated that he had wanted to do this for the last two years over something Miller may have said about his niece Katrina Martin.” Do you think that Councilman Miller was attacked because of policy or that the current national political environment fosters an environment that provoked that the 48 year old Ryan Dean Johnson to defend his niece’s honor?
Political discourse must be protected. The task charged to the media by the Constitution provides that it is the duty of every American reporter, every newspaper, journal, magazine, radio station and television network to report facts which ensure the liberty of our country’s citizenry – not your facts, my facts or their facts; the facts. Although abdication is not unlawful, it is punishable by the body of the people through abandonment. While bending the rules has been commonplace for twenty or thirty years now, making the facts fit the story is a cardinal sin in journalism. As far as this columnist can see, this is unquestionably a case of making the facts fit the story and the story today is: political discourse breeds violence.
If the Associated Press continues to provide news in similar fashion to that of the mainstream news networks, they too will soon find their usage declining just as the big three are witnessing epoch defining decline in viewership.
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