Monica Guzman

Seattle P-I Greets Visitors with Criticism of Tea Parties

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Web site screen grab | NewsBusters.orgThe Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which since mid-March has been published solely online, greeted visitors to its Web page today with links to opinion pieces or cartoons critical of the April 15 Tea Parties (see screencap at right).

In the upper right-hand corner, under a picture of Seattleites at a tea party protest, were links to 

  • a liberal opinion piece by P-I cartoonist David Horsey
  • a photo slideshow from Seattle's Tea Party
  • an editorial cartoon by Horsey, reflecting similar sentiments to those penned in his opinion piece

No ostensibly objective news stories by P-I staffers covering the protests were teased.

Ironically, yesterday afternoon P-I "Big Blog" editor Monica Guzman gave her readers a look at how a new study shows "Political news browsing is getting more partisan.":

Is Seattle P-I Now Dropping Eco-Terror Label for ELF?

Is the Seattle Post-Intelligencer now backing off from labeling the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) an eco-terrorist outfit?

NewsBusters has noted that whereas the Seattle Times has avoided calling the Street of Dreams arsons as suspected eco-terrorist strikes, the P-I has used the term in headlines and in the text of articles themselves. But an article in today's paper by reporter Paul Shukovsky avoids calling ELF a terror group, although the final paragraph informs readers they can call the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force with tips for investigators.

Instead of labeling ELF an eco-terrorist group, Shukovsky opted for "clandestine cell of radical environmentalists."

As we noted yesterday, Seattle P-I "Big Blog" editor Mónica Guzmán found that most P-I readers approve of the paper tagging ELF as an eco-terror group.

Seattle P-I Tosses Only Softballs in Illegal Immigrant Interview

In a September 10 Big Blog entry, Seattle Post-Intelligencer online reporter Monica Guzman filed an interview with an illegal immigrant from Peru.

While it's arguable there's a place for her softball questions about the hopes and dreams that compel illegal immigrants to come to America for opportunity, a balanced interview would call for some harder questions about the laws broken by immigrants who do so.

Unfortunately Guzman didn't offer any such tough questions, although the P-I encourages readers to submit questions for reporters to ask in future interviews here.

Below is an excerpt from the interview. I've removed many of the responses for the sake of brevity. Guzman's questions are in bold and italicized. You can find the full interview with 33-year old immigrant Juan Carlos Savedra here.: