Posted on 06/17/2003 8:01:27 AM PDT by Elkiejg
WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- South Dakota's largest newspaper has been rocked by recent accusations of bias in favor of Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD) and other Democrats. The Argus Leader has steadfastly refused to comment on the 35-year relationship of its star political reporter to the Senate Minority Leader.
The Talon News investigation of the claims made by Sioux Falls businessman Neal Tapio has uncovered a second link between the newspaper and Daschle.
Steve Erpenbach, currently State Director for Daschle, was Assistant City Editor for the Argus Leader from 1986 until 1989. David Kranz, the reporter at the center of the controversy, was City Editor at the time. Erpenbach became Press Secretary for Ted Muenster in his 1990 bid to unseat Sen. Larry Pressler (R-SD). It was during this campaign that the New York Times and Roll Call criticized the Argus Leader for its biased coverage.
Neither the Argus Leader nor Daschle's office has commented on the current controversy. In Sunday's edition, Executive Director Randell Beck defended his newspaper's reporting of Linda Daschle's lobbying in a folksy editorial in which he uses his own wife as a foil. Beck wrote, "Some folks just refuse to let the facts get in the way of a good story."
Beck also wrote, "The fanatics intent on demonizing anyone who doesn't agree with them were already on the case," undoubtedly referring to the Talon News spotlight on the South Dakota newspaper's decision not to report a story involving a controversial $20 billion government contract for one of Mrs. Daschle's clients. In fact, the Argus Leader has rarely printed anything about the lobbying activities of the woman whose husband is one of the most powerful men in Washington.
The Sacramento Bee?
A week in June
Mr. Rodriguez wrote "How Readers can help keep the Bee on its Toes"; Ms. Creamer writes "Quite possibly" in response to her question on whether the administration has lied about WMD.
The Bee wrote two retractions for the false front-page allegations against our government written by Bee staff! The front-page headline retraction (I did this!) was hidden on A-2.
The Bee totally misstated the problems behind the resignations of the two members of the NYT management.
The Ombudsman mentioned that it takes weeks for the Bee to put forth the government position on the Jessica Lynch rescue. The smear was front-page headline but the government version was A-26.
A Bee editor writes that one should identify their agenda when writing to the editor. The Bee routinely uses unnamed sources and puts their (sometimes false) claims in front page headlines. The Bee interviews people and puts their quotes on the front page without identifying the affiliations and agendas of those they interview.
The Bee ran three "puff" articles as news on the new Hillary book.
Did the Bee let their liberal bias influence the news? Quite possibly.
And the next week? Where is the coverage about the Baghdad museum that was NOT looted?
The western Mass. Sunday "Republican" slams Bush in an average of 4 out of 5 editorials or columns. And you can guess which ones make it to the front page of the editorial section! They usually throw in a token Krauthammer article jammed at the bottom of page 2. This week's big topic: how the President has thrown away all of our international respect. No problem with Clinton though.
I only buy the paper for the advertisements anyway.......
Out with it, man.
Seriously though, I have had several letters critical of the paper actually published there (at the end of course). I have to buy it to scribble my comments all over it and get precise quotes to hurl back at them!!
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