On "Propagandist Watch" Web page, KOA's "Gunny" Bob distorted Rocky column and editorial

Summary: Newsradio 850 KOA host "Gunny" Bob Newman has added to his show's Web page a section called "Denver Media Extremist and Propagandist Watch," whose purpose is to keep his audience "informed on radical merchants of hatred, bigotry and intolerance in the Colorado media." In two separate entries, however, Newman mischaracterized a September 29 column by Jason Salzman of the Rocky Mountain News and a September 24 News editorial.

A new section on Newsradio 850 KOA host "Gunny" Bob Newman's Web page called "Denver Media Extremist and Propagandist Watch" claims to keep Newman's audience "informed on radical merchants of hatred, bigotry and intolerance in the Colorado media who seek to harm America and the freedoms guaranteed to us by the Constitution." However, rather than "inform[ing]" his audience, one of Newman's recent entries distorted a column by Rocky Mountain News media critic Jason Salzman about the overexposure of the Independence Institute in the Colorado media. Another entry mischaracterized a News editorial critical of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent request to lay a wreath at the site of the World Trade Center in New York.

Newman mischaracterized Salzman's September 29 column by claiming that Salzman "wants to restrict the free-speech rights of the Independence Institute because, he believes, Jon Caldara and his team talk too much." Newman added: "One must wonder if Salzman would silence himself if more media outlets were in any way interested in his opinion."

In fact, instead of advocating the restriction of the free-market think tank's "free-speech rights," Salzman's column called on journalists to develop more sources with conservative perspectives instead of relying too heavily on the Independence Institute, which he said "is in the local news way too often." As Salzman noted, in addition to being quoted frequently, Independence Institute staff members have prominent platforms in local media, including: research director Dave Kopel's media criticism column in the News and his regular appearances on public television KBDI Channel 12's weekly Colorado Inside Out; president Jon Caldara's daily KOA evening radio show, The Jon Caldara Show, and his weekly public television show, Independent Thinking, on KBDI; and director of the Campus Accountability Project and Property Rights Project Jessica Peck Corry's "Diary of a Mad Voter" blog on The Denver Post's PoliticsWest Web page and her frequent contributions as a member of the Post's columnist panel Colorado Voices.

From Jason Salzman's column "Too much media Independence," in the September 29 edition of the Rocky Mountain News:

You don't have to be much of a news junkie to know that the Independence Institute is in the local news way too often.

Journalists are overdosing us not only by quoting the libertarian-conservative organization excessively but also by embedding Independence Institute staff in Denver media outlets -- without giving comparable organizations similar treatment.

[...]

It's perfectly fine for staff of an advocacy group to have part-time media gigs, but the Independence Institute has way more than any other comparable organization, on the left or right. And that's counting just institute staff, not "fellows."

None of the staff at left-leaning Bell Policy Center, Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute, Colorado Progressive Coalition, or ProgressNow, for example, have regular platforms in the mainstream media, though Bell voluntarily dropped a regular Op-Ed spot at the Boulder Daily Camera, as did Caldara.

So here's my humble and reasonable request: Next time an editor or producer is looking for a regular conservative-libertarian voice, they should -- for the sake of diversity and fairness -- avoid choosing a staffer from the Independence Institute.

Salzman further stated that the Independence Institute should not be "muzzled," but that Colorado media should seek out additional conservative opinions:

It's true that there are fewer conservative policy organizations in Colorado than liberal ones, but the Independence Institute, whose positions usually align with the fiscally conservative branch of the Republican Party, doesn't have a monopoly on articulate and conservative policy mavens.

Journalists should find them and quote them, instead of relying repeatedly on the Independence Institute.

I'm not saying that the Independence Institute should be muzzled, and besides, who could muzzle a guy like Caldara anyway? My point is that journalists are giving this single organization too big a media megaphone.

Newman's "Propagandist Watch" page also noted a News editorial in a post that suggested the "Rocky Mountain News editorial board" supported Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent request to lay a wreath at the World Trade Center site in honor of those killed there in the September 11, 2001, attacks. Newman provided only the following quote from the September 24 editorial:

"In principle, there's nothing wrong with the president of Iran laying a wreath at the World Trade Center site ... "

However, the editorial to which Newman referred -- "Ground Zero no place for Ahmadinejad" -- was in fact critical of the Iranian president's request. The News wrote:

But there is a certain reverence and restraint to these ceremonies, and neither of those terms has ever been applied to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose noisy belligerence toward the United States and Israel has made him a figure of both ridicule and dread.

New York authorities rejected Ahmadinejad's request to make an official visit to the site, citing security concerns and ongoing construction. If Ahmadinejad is truly moved by the tragedy of 9/11 -- and many Iranians were -- there are quieter ways he could have shown it.

Unlike every other example of what Newman labeled as "extremist," the post on the News editorial did not provide a link to the entire piece.

—C.H.