U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that the Obama/Holder Justice Department would request a federal court to put a hold on plans by the State of Texas to put into effect new voter ID laws. The Wall Street Journal's Devlin Barrett has a short article on the development, "Holder Targets Texas in New Voting-Rights Push," published shortly after the announcement at 10:05 a.m. Eastern time.
Barrett failed to directly quote any opponents of Holder's move, but did not that "The move is likely to anger conservatives who have long argued that the law has outlived its usefulness and punishes certain states—particularly in the South—based not on their current conduct, but on their past." But when it came to promoting the article on social media, a Journal social media staffer gave Twitter followers a decidedly pro-Holder spin, pitching the story thusly:
Atty General Eric Holder acts to protect voting rights; will scrutinize election law in Texas. http://on.wsj.com/1dXr7Qj
In fairness, a few tweets earlier, presumably before Barrett's article was written but after Holder made his announcement, the WSJ tweeted:
Breaking: Attorney General Holder is seeking to require Texas to get advance approval before changing voting laws. http://wsj.com
You will notice the drastic difference. The later tweet casts Holder as a hero, "act[ing] to protect voting rights." The earlier tweet is a simply a factual summation of what Holder announced he was seeking in a federal court. It's possible the tweets were written by two different people, and it seems that there are seven individuals who have keys to the Journal's main Twitter account.
According to the Wall Street Journal's @WSJ Twitter account, the WSJ feed exists to relay to readers "Breaking news and features from The Wall Street Journal," with "Tweets by @rubinafillion @fieldproducer @demetria_g @elanazak @allisonWSJ @mayaj and @lheron."
Atty General Eric Holder acts to protect voting rights; will scrutinize election law in Texas. http://t.co/3GvJriMqOk
— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) July 25, 2013
