Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Peter Yankowski, a retired bank president who was deputy insurance commissioner in the Douglas administration. He lives in Rutland Town.
When you pick up your local newspaper each day, what are your expectations?
At a minimum, you — or collectively the community — would expect the news to be presented truthfully, completely and without bias. This means coverage of important hometown news and the same for the national scene and beyond. Of course local papers don’t have the resources of the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal and thus their coverage cannot be as extensive. However, even with limited resources, some stories should be covered if they are of significant national importance or have otherwise been previously editorialized on by the local paper.
Also, editorial content should bear some semblance to reality, fairness and balance. The owners of a paper have the right to opine as they wish; after all, they do own the paper. But if the editors and owners are to be taken seriously, the paper’s editorial positions cannot be continuously and heavily slanted in one direction with facts dishonestly omitted or twisted.
Over the past couple of weeks, the Rutland Herald has badly failed this test with its coverage, — or perhaps a better description would be scant and selective coverage — of the flurry of scandals that have engulfed the Obama administration. At this time, these scandals include: the IRS targeting of conservative groups; the government coverup of the Benghazi attack and the Justice Department’s wire-tapping of Associated Press reporters. Unfortunately, it appears that these scandals may be more extensive than originally believed and will undoubtedly expand in the coming days as more facts are uncovered.
This has not been a good period for President Obama. The difficulties continue to hound him with criticism and questions coming from all political directions including his own party and many from traditionally liberal sources that have been very supportive of the president in the past. Making matters worse are the changing stories coming out of the White House compounded by testimony from top Obama administration officials who claim to know nothing or one who now plans to claim Fifth Amendment rights. You can include President Obama in the know-nothing group based on what he has indicated he knows so far. I guess Harry Truman took the buck stopper with him when he returned to Kansas in 1953.
From May 9 through May 22, the Rutland Herald has had only four news stories on all three of the controversies while presenting six editorial and commentary pieces. At least one of the Herald’s news stories reported was politically slanted while most big news events regarding the scandals that have had substantial national coverage have been completely ignored and omitted by the Herald.
The trifecta of scandals has been deemed so important that it has dominated all media across the country to include print, television and Internet. At the same time, the talk shows and late night comedians have hammered President Obama. Just about everyone who reports news and all the opining talking heads have been on fast forward with these issues.
One exception to this comprehensive news coverage is the Rutland Herald, which has presented few news stories and primarily focused on editorials and commentary that suit its own political point of view. From May 9 through May 22, the Rutland Herald has had only four news stories on all three of the controversies while presenting six editorial and commentary pieces. At least one of the Herald’s news stories reported was politically slanted while most big news events regarding the scandals that have had substantial national coverage have been completely ignored and omitted by the Herald.
As an example, on Wednesday, May 15, President Obama appeared on national television and announced he had accepted the resignation of IRS Commissioner Steven T. Miller as a result of improperly targeting conservative groups. The president went on to say he was angry about the IRS matter as the American people should be. It was also reported that the Justice Department would open a criminal investigation into the IRS activities. In other words, the Obama administration had a real mess on its hands and the problem was growing.
The Rutland Herald did not report the Obama IRS story in its Thursday, May 16 issue or in any other subsequent issue. Just about every other paper did report on the IRS matter, from the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and the Burlington Free Press. It was also heavily covered on every major television network and all the cable news and talk programs, regardless of political leanings. It was the big news of the week.
So why is the Rutland Herald’s failure to cover President Obama’s comments so troublesome? Because on Tuesday, May 14, the Herald presented its editorial entitled “IRS Blunders” that instead of focusing on the Obama problems at the IRS, railed against perceived conservative and Republican behavior toward President Obama. The editorial attacked Republicans and conservatives several times using terms such as: extreme, attitude of fanaticism and fanning the flames. The editorial gave new meaning to the words hyperbole and misdirection. On the other hand, the Herald has made no mention of Democratic Sen. Max Backus’ questions, charges and frustration with the IRS behavior. Apparently, Sen. Backus’ concerns are an inconvenient truth to be dismissed by the Herald because they don’t fit its narrative.
The scandal at the IRS isn’t about conservative or Republican doings, it’s about improper or now likely criminal activity at an agency under President Obama’s control. The Herald editorial essentially ignored this and instead chose to attack conservatives in lieu of dealing with relevant facts.
Beyond the little news reported, the Rutland Herald opinion pieces directed at the Obama scandals have been basically focused on attacking Republicans, obfuscating the facts and making excuses for Obama. If one were only to have read what was reported and opined on in the Rutland Herald, that person would have come away with very little idea of the magnitude of the scandal. This is because the Rutland Herald reader has been presented with only part of the picture of the Obama scandals as opposed to all the relevant news readily available to the press.
It seems as if the Rutland Herald is more interested in protecting President Obama and attacking Republicans than in objectively presenting all the news in these cases. This is a bad practice for a hometown newspaper and a disservice to its readers who depend on the paper to be properly informed.
Just as a note, on May 21, I wrote a letter to the Rutland Herald editor on this very subject. I mention my letter only because on that same day two other members of the community also had letters to the Rutland Herald editor criticizing the paper’s slanted presentation of the other news. I give the Rutland Herald credit for publishing these three criticisms. But in the bigger picture, hopefully, the paper’s ownership hears the message and will provide what the community expects from its local paper.
