WashPost Leaves Out Party Label of Pol Charged with Running Brothel

Photo of Ken Shepherd.
By Ken Shepherd (Bio | Archive)
July 19, 2007 - 12:38 ET

Say you write for or edit the metro section of a major metropolitan newspaper and you have a juicy story of a local ex-mayor who was arrested for running a brothel. It's right on the heels of the Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) prostitution scandal and the politician in the local story in question was once a sheriff's deputy, clearly no stranger to anti-prostitution laws.

Party affiliation is just one more tidbit of information that couldn't hurt your readers, right?

Not for the Washington Post.

Seventy-two year old former Dumfries Mayor Melvin Bray was "charged with running a brothel out of a sports therapy clinic in a roadside strip mall" in Prince William County, Va., reported Post staff writer Nick Miroff. But Bray's party affiliation, Democratic, was not included in the story.

A quick Google search confirmed that Bray, who lost his reelection bid last year in the historically nonpartisan mayoral contest, is a self-described "lifelong Democrat."


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Ken, But you do admit

July 19, 2007 - 13:20 ET by Conservative in the Arts

Ken,

But you do admit that mayors are not party affiliated.

Even though he might be a registered Dem, as a Mayor, there is no R or D next to his name.

Can you give any stories where a Mayor who was a Republican was given party affiliation?

You mean like Guiliani,

July 19, 2007 - 13:25 ET by dscott

You mean like Guiliani, Bloomberg, etc...

 

“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”

but Guiliani is currently

July 19, 2007 - 13:32 ET by Conservative in the Arts

but Guiliani is currently running as a Republican on a national level. While he was mayor were there news stories that said Mayor (R) ? Or as Bloomberg currently?

Remember Ray Nagin (D)?

July 19, 2007 - 14:24 ET by Mica the Magnificent

To Conservative in . .

When it's 'scandal time' the MSM treats dems different from repubs.

When the MSM blamed Bush for the damage to New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina, the media made sure you knew the mayor, Ray Nagin, was not only blameless but also a democrat.

Forget it Mica, the guy is

July 19, 2007 - 16:10 ET by Chris Norman

Forget it Mica, the guy is being deliberately obtuse. 

The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.

- Arabian Proverb

I remember back in 1989 or

July 19, 2007 - 16:52 ET by usinkorea

I remember back in 1989 or 90 when Rep. Barney Frank got in trouble when his boyfriend was running a male call service out of a flat Frank rented...I believe it was.

I told a pol sci class of about 350 students I thought the media was taking it easy on him compared to what I would expect if someone like - say - Gingrich had gotten caught with a girlfriend running prostitution out of flat he sometimes occupied as well.

I was instantly told I must be nuts and how the media was putting an end to Frank's career and what not.

Well, Frank certainly survived, and I think I was correct about how they would have handled a republican in similar circumstances as well....

Bad Edit

July 20, 2007 - 16:16 ET by Merv

This appears to be a pretty crappy edit more than bias. Interesting that the mayor currently serving doesn't have his affiliation mentioned, but the county official does.

"Labeling" is a pretty-good

July 22, 2007 - 10:35 ET by sarcasmo

"Labeling" is a pretty-good category name, but can't we call this kind of rampant bias "Journalism 101"? Sheesh. They wonder why we exist and yet they continually try to pull THIS kind of crapola!! Can't they get used to the fact that the internet exists, and the rules have changed??
JMR