Tucson NBC Affiliate Plays Guess the Party

KVOA, the NBC television affiliate in Tucson, boasts on its Web site that we're reading "Balanced News You Can Count On."  That may be true.  What's indisputable is, in at least in one instance, it doesn't provide all the news.

Today's case in point is the story, "Congressman's son caught smuggling immigrants," which begins:

TUCSON, AZ - The son of a U.S. Congressman from was arrested in Willcox Sunday, charged with human smuggling. According to court documents John F. Boyd son of Florida Congressman Allen Boyd, attempted to drive through a Border Patrol checkpoint in Willcox on Sunday with five illegal immigrants, including a 6-year-old girl.  

In a statement sent Tuesday, Congressman Allen Boyd said, "On September 14, 2008, my 30-year-old son, John Boyd, was arrested in Arizona, and at a preliminary hearing yesterday, he was charged with alien smuggling."

"This is a family matter that my family and I will be dealing with privately. John is a grown man and must face the consequences for his actions, but he has the love and support of his family," says the elder Boyd.

OK, we know who the alleged perpetrator is, what he did, and that his father is a member of Congress.  What we aren't told in the 7-paragraph piece is whether the congressman is a Democrat or a Republican.

Whenever party affiliation in such stories is left out, it's a no-brainer.  Just as we know with certainty that Barack Obama doesn't leave home without his teleprompter, we realize that negative stories not identifying party ID invariably means a Democrat is involved.

Yes, it's a small matter, just another day in the mainstream media.  But so very typical of the modus operandi that it's worthy of passing notice.