Rocky article on criticism of ProgressNow anti-"bitch-slap" campaign omitted ties among source, reporter, and Caldara
Summary: The Rocky Mountain News on January 26 quoted "[b]logger Ari Armstrong" defending Independence Institute President Jon Caldara's use of the term "bitch-slapped" on his Newsradio 850 KOA program, reporting that a "liberal group" targeting Caldara in a petition drive "didn't object when other media outlets" used the term. However, the article by Lynn Bartels failed to mention that Armstrong has been a researcher for the "free-market" Independence Institute and that Bartels has appeared a number of times as a guest on KBDI Channel 12's Independent Thinking, which Caldara hosts.
In a January 26 article by Lynn Bartels, the Rocky Mountain News reported comments by "[b]logger Ari Armstrong" defending Newsradio 850 KOA Jon Caldara's on-air use of the term "bitch-slapped," but did not report, as Colorado Media Matters has noted, that Armstrong has been a contributing author for the Independence Institute, of which Caldara is president. The article also did not disclose that Bartels is a periodic guest on the KBDI Channel 12 television program that Caldara hosts, Independent Thinking.
The liberal advocacy organization ProgressNow Action has mounted a petition drive seeking to pressure Caldara's advertisers after he suggested on his January 21 broadcast that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY) got "bitch-slapped" by rival Sen. Barack Obama (IL) during that evening's Democratic presidential debate. Following Caldara's defense of his misogynistic speech, Bartels reported that according to Armstrong, "ProgressNow is clearly going after Caldara because they don't like Caldara." The article also noted Armstrong's assertion that the term "bitch slap" has appeared in three local alternative newspapers.
The Independence Institute website lists 24 "articles" by Armstrong. Articles identifying him as a senior fellow or as a research associate for the Independence Institute also appear on the website of Dave Kopel, the think tank's research director. Caldara has been president of the Independence Institute since November 1998.
From the January 26 Rocky Mountain News article "Liberal group fickle on objecting to 'bitch slap,' " by Lynn Bartels:
A liberal group targeted conservative talk radio host Jon Caldara for using the term bitch slap but didn't object when other media outlets or Democratic pundits used the same phrase.
ProgressNow this week asked supporters to express their concerns to advertisers on Caldara's show, which airs on KOA-AM (850) from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. weekdays.
Blogger Ari Armstrong noted Friday that three alternative newspapers along the Front Range have used the term at least 20 times. The phrase has been used in Westword, the Boulder Weekly and the Colorado Springs Independent in stories ranging from sports to restaurant reviews to music reviews.
And the term has appeared in the liberal blog, dailykos.com, and has been used by Democrats Al Franken and James Carville.
"ProgressNow is clearly going after Caldara because they don't like Caldara," said Armstrong.
But Michael Huttner, executive director of ProgressNow, said the problem is Caldara has a "history of hate against women."
—E.B.
Comments (2) Show
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Colorado Media Matters should focus on falsehoods and lies and worry less about silly language and opinions. CMM and ProgressNow gave Caldara an opportunity to narcissistically milk the situation, and it made them look bad.
I made this point in a comment in a previous CMM item posted back on November 13, 2006. That item referred to Dan Caplis saying on November 8, 2006 (the day after the Democrats won the U.S House and Senate) that "the enemy's going to be encouraged already by the results" of the November 7 election. Fine, complain about that. It's a stupid thing to say. But why did CMM miss two falsehoods (maybe even lies) by Caplis in the item? I think they were more important than his silly opinion. I'll repeat my comments on those two falsehoods from that item here.
"Caplis said Pelosi opposed the Patriot Act. Actually she voted for the USA Patriot Act in 2001, but opposed it later. I found this at the website vote-smart.org."
"Caplis also said that the Unborn Victims of Violence Act was supported by the vast majority of Dems. Not true. UVVA legislation came up for votes in 1999, 2001 and 2004. In each case Dems voted roughly 3 to 1 against it. President Bush signed the UVVA into law in 2004. I found these votes at the website thomas.loc.gov."
So CMM missed the substance and instead went after the easy loony stuff. Come on! There's plenty of misinformation on talk radio to write about.
For example, near the end of the first hour of the Mike Rosen show on January 2 this year, Rosen said that Jimmy Carter turned the other cheek when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan - that Carter's only response was to boycott the Olympics. Well, if CMM had done its job, they would have written an item stating that Carter had actually signed a finding on July 3, 1979 (six months before the Soviet invasion) to covertly assist the Mujahideen against the pro-Soviet Afghan regime. See page 146 of Robert Gates's book "From the Shadows." Zbigniew Brzezinski confirmed this in an interview with a French magazine. You can find that interview in the CounterPunch article, "How Jimmy Carter and I Started the Mujahideen."
Rosen also mentioned the high inflation and interest rates at that time. Well, Jimmy Carter appointed Paul Volcker to the Federal Reserve in August of 1979 specifically to fight inflation and get monetary policy under control. Rosen lies because he knows that the tight money policy implemented by Volcker was the solution to the problem. But CMM missed all of that.
Come on, CMM. You can do better. This one on Caldara backfired.
Failing to fully identify a source is a major violation of journalistic ethics. It conceals information that would help readers to judge the veracity of the source's statements.
Another problem with this story is that it lacks evidence supporting the thesis in the lead -- i.e., ProgressNow was hypocritical in singling out Caldera's usage of "bitch slap" while giving others a free pass. It wasn't clear that ProgressNow knew that Al Franken, James Carville, or the independent newspapers had used the term.
With the latest news that ProgressNow used "bitch slap" on its own Web site, the hypocrisy argument is much stronger. But when Bartels wroter her story, she uncritically scooped up an unsupported claim a highly partisan source. And she hid the source, which was highly relevant.
Michael Ryan
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