Pat Dollard

The Washington Post's Susan Kinzie whipped up a 12-paragraph Metro section article for the February 3 paper on an apology by George Washington University College Democrats for the action of an unnamed member who defaced crosses used by the campus Young America's Foundation chapter for a recent pro-life demonstration.

Kinzie then noted that student "admitted responsibility and had been expelled" from the College Dems but that the "alleged offender" was not named by the campus group and will "face action through the code of student conduct" according to GWU officials.

While it's laudable that Kinzie has reported this story, it's unlikely that the Post will milk the incident for outrage, as it did with the display of a small noose at the University of Maryland in September 2007. A Nexis search shows a total of nine stories or news briefs that mention that incident during that month alone.

What's more, while a September 10, 2007 article on the UMd. noose included an Associated Press video on the Web site edition, neither Kinzie's February 3 print or Web articles included photos of the desecrated crosses, even though there are some available online.

Blogger Pat Dollard has the photos on his eponymous site, and I've included one of them below. You can judge for yourself, but to this writer, Kinzie's description doesn't do justice to just how sacrilegious the vandalism was:

Why does a small-budget movie like Brian De Palma's “Redacted” matter? Because of the ripple effects. The media have reported the film as "a ferocious argument against the engagement in Iraq for what it is doing to everyone involved.” Meaning the media are taking these deeply anti-war, anti-military storylines as De Palma intended, as a serious discussion of the day-to-day “realities” of Iraq.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban (shown right, image via Pat Dollard) financially backed “Redacted,” which debuted Friday in Italy at the Venice Film Festival (blogged here), and his studio Magnolia Pictures is distributing the movie (h/t NB'er Acumen).