AP, LA Times Headlines Lionize Ted Kennedy

The Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times trumpeted the legacy of Ted Kennedy on Wednesday by running headlines which used quotes from notables about the deceased senator without quotation marks. The AP’s report by Glen Johnson and Philip Elliott heralded the President’s superlative about Kennedy without stating it was Mr. Obama’s words: “Obama mourns Kennedy, greatest senator of our time.”

Ari B. Bloomekatz’s entry on the blog of the LA Times highlighted the statement from the Catholic archbishop of the City of Angels: “Cardinal Mahony calls Kennedy a champion of the powerless” (an odd statement from the Cardinal, as Kennedy was a staunch defender of “abortion rights,” and who is more “powerless” than a baby in the womb?)

Other mainstream media outlets did not follow this playing up of these tributes to the deceased politician. The Boston Globe reported on another Senate colleague’s testimony: “McCain: Kennedy ‘always kept his word.’” The Chicago Tribune had this take on the President’s laudatory words: “Praise for Edward Kennedy, ‘greatest senator.’”

One might guess that the AP and the LA Times thought the eulogies by the Chief Executive and the Cardinal were statements of fact, instead of their personal opinions.