NewsBusters posters have already given Old Media deserved grief about its reluctance to pin the Democratic Party label on Eliot Spitzer, who, as of this moment, is still governor of New York (Brent Baker on evening news show coverage; Ken Shepherd on the BBC; Shepherd on the AP).
But, as blogger Ace noted last night (warning: some profanity at Ace's link), ABC has outdone the other outlets one better.
ABC's "Political Sex Scandals Redux" popup slideshow has a series of 13 slides relating to current and past politicians. If Republicans are or were involved, the network, with one rare and minor exception, consistently applies the "R" label almost immediately. With Democrats, with one very old exception, the party label isn't there.
Here are the specifics:
- Slide 1, Eliot Spitzer -- No party ID on New York's current Democratic governor.
- Slide 2, Mark Foley -- immediately labeled "R-Fla."
- Slide 3, Randy "Duke" Cunningham -- immediately labeled "R-Calif."
- Slide 4, David Vitter -- immediately labeled "R-La."
- Slide 5, Randall Tobias (Deputy Secretary of State; April 2007) -- party affiliation not identified, and apparently not known.
- Slide 6, Bill Clinton -- No Democratic party ID. The slide only mentions Monica Lewinsky. Others, who the BBC 10 years ago referred to as "All the President's Women," are nowhere to be found: Paula Jones, Gennifer Flowers, Kathleen Willey, and several others. Juanita Broaddrick (backup link)? Surely you jest.
- Slide 7, Jim McGreevey -- No party ID on the former New Jersey Governor, who resigned in 2004.
- Slide 8, Larry Craig -- immediately labeled "R-Idaho."
- Slide 9, James E. West -- No party ID on Republican former Spokane, WA Mayor, 2005. Big whoop, as if a lower-level GOP overlook makes up for the other oversights identified here.
- Slide 10, Bob Livingston -- GOP Party ID noted in the first sentence.
- Slide 11, Daniel Crane -- immediately labeled "R-Ill."
- Slide 12, Gerry E. Studds -- immediately labeled "D-Mass." The Studds scandal dates to 1983.
- Slide 13, Wilbur Mills -- No party ID on the former Democratic House Speaker.
Summary:
- Six Republicans immediately identified; one relatively obscure GOP member not ID'd.
- Four Democratic affiliations not noted; one, involving a matter dating back a quarter-century, immediately identified.
- One party affiliation not clear, and apparently not known.
Ace's key comments:
This is all in our minds, huh, MSM?
It's all accidental, right?
Then why does it keep happening, and why do you stubbornly refuse to make a simple style guide change -- requiring the party ID of any and all politicians caught in scandals upon first mention, in the first paragraph?
It's because you want to preserve your freedom to continue doing this. Only Republican scandals are, in fact, Republican scandals. Democratic scandals are never identified as such, and instead are, in your "nuanced" telling, either scandals of a particular man alone or of "The System" generally.
Exactly.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
—Tom Blumer is president of a training and development company in Mason, Ohio, and is a contributing editor to NewsBusters




















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Addendum
March 11, 2008 - 09:06 ET by Tom BlumerA the Corner, Mark Hemingway notes that ABC "somehow" missed former Democratic Congressman Mel Reynolds.
I wonder if readers here can come up with any other obvious oversights?
I thought of Mel Reynolds right away also - him and Barny Frank
March 11, 2008 - 11:22 ET by Dee BunkI'm sure there are othes they have left off.
Perhaps the most blatant
March 11, 2008 - 09:10 ET by Hero SquadPerhaps the most blatant and obvious example of this phenomenon I've seen to day. Shocking, but unfortunately, not unbelievable.
It's like they aren't even trying anymore to foster the illusion that they are reporting in an impartial manner.
*****
"People only insist that a debate stop when they are afraid of what might be learned if it continues." - George Will
Let them play their little
March 11, 2008 - 09:18 ET by NewsbusterbrownLet them play their little games, since we all know that no party affiliation mentioned means that they are Democrats. If they think they are fooling anybody, then they should think again.
As for Spitzer: Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!*
* No laughter for what his family has to be going through, however.
If he asked his wife to show support for him yesterday, then he's even more despicable than he appears to be already.
Today's Washington Post...
March 11, 2008 - 09:27 ET by Prester John...actually identified Spitzer as a Dem in para 2 on the front page.
Must have been a mistake.
no surprise here
March 11, 2008 - 09:51 ET by SouthJersey1953GMA talked about the story for several minutes this morning and not once did they identify his party.
Wilbur Mills was a Democrat
March 11, 2008 - 09:48 ET by gitarfanWilbur Mills was a Democrat with a lot of power
Sex Scandal Song
March 11, 2008 - 10:29 ET by DanSCheck out this sex scandal song on myspace.
www.myspace.com/herbertfarmer
Hey, at least they managed
March 11, 2008 - 14:13 ET by cjbreischHey, at least they managed to find some Democrats to say bad things about. Usually, the MSM has collective amnesia concerning Dem scandals.
Following the list is interesting too. Especially if you consider that most people never make it all the way through such things.
#1 Spitzer (as appropriate, but party un-named)
#2 Republican
#3 Republican
#4 Republican
#5 Republican
This is obviously painted as another symbol of the Republican "culture of corruption".
Defensible
March 11, 2008 - 14:52 ET by Tom Blumer.... from a recency standpoint (except then why is Craig #8?).
Not that Fox News...
March 11, 2008 - 17:17 ET by Syrius...would ever stoop that low-
http://www.crooksand...
Syrius
"...the dire consequences to society when people begin to believe that by
renaming someone to erase their humanity opens the door to the
devaluation of everyone's life..."-dscott
Syrius - that has absolutley no relavence to this blog
March 11, 2008 - 18:46 ET by Dee BunkWhether Fox made a mistake or someone was making a joke, who knows but it's not a consistent normal thing like what is going on here.
You might have a point if McCain was involved in some kind of scandal and they labeled him as a dem, but just incorrectly labeling someone is no big thing