In Rocky column, Independence Institute's Kopel criticized omission of "Democrat" ID for Spitzer but ignored newspaper's history of omitting GOP labels

Summary: Writing about "conservative media critics" who have complained that "the mainstream media" often "downplay the party affiliation" of a Democrat involved in a scandal, while "playing up" the party identification for a Republican, Rocky Mountain News columnist and Independence Institute researcher David Kopel stated that his research "gives some credence" to their complaints. But Colorado Media Matters has documented numerous occasions when Colorado media outlets failed to identify the GOP affiliation of state elected officials accused of malfeasance.

In his March 22 Rocky Mountain News column, Independence Institute Research Director David Kopel asserted that research he completed on articles in the News and The Denver Post related to scandals involving two political figures "gives some credence" to the "complaint of conservative media critics [] that the mainstream media downplay the party affiliation of a Democrat who is involved in a scandal, while playing up the party identification of a Republican in a scandal." In basing his conclusion on coverage of scandals related to former Democratic New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and former Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, Kopel neglected to acknowledge the numerous instances documented by Colorado Media Matters in which the News and the Post have failed to provide the Republican affiliation of Colorado elected political figures accused of wrongdoing.

Instances in which the News and the Post -- as well as other Colorado media outlets -- have failed to provide the party affiliation of Republican elected officials involved in scandals include:

• Durango-based district attorney Craig Stephen Westberg, who was charged with driving under the influence

• Former Jefferson County Treasurer Mark Paschall, who had been indicted in an alleged kickback scheme

• Jefferson County Commissioner Jim Congrove, who was the target of a year-long criminal investigation

• 18th Judicial District Attorney Carol Chambers, who repeatedly has been investigated by the Office of Attorney Regulation and was formally censured

• Former Jefferson County Commissioner Rick Sheehan, who the Post noted in a February 25, 2007, editorial that did not state his party affiliation "resigned after it was revealed his relatives sent some raunchy faxes, signed Pinky T., to a gadfly critic of the county in hopes of tricking him into publishing libelous material on his website"

As Colorado Media Matters has noted, on his March 11 broadcast, Fox News Radio 600 KCOL host Scott James similarly claimed that media reports of a prostitution scandal involving Spitzer did not mention his party affiliation. In fact, reports on Colorado's three largest television network affiliates all did so, as did a variety of national and cable news programs that aired before Scott made his claim.

Further, while omitting in numerous reports the Republican affiliation of elected officials accused of wrongdoing, the News on at least two occasions published articles identifying a former state lawmaker accused of criminal trespass, former Sen. Robert Hernandez, as a Democrat.

From David Kopel's March 22 Rocky Mountain News column "Do Rocky, Post give Dems a break?":

A common complaint of conservative media critics is that the mainstream media downplay the party affiliation of a Democrat who is involved in a scandal, while playing up the party identification of a Republican in a scandal.

So I decided to see how the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post had treated two recent scandals, one involving New York Democratic Gov. Elliot Spitzer and the other involving Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Foley. Spitzer, of course, resigned March 12 after a federal investigation suggested that he had multiple liaisons with a prostitute. Foley resigned in September 2006 after the revelation that he had sent salacious text messages to congressional pages, some of whom had been minors at the time.

[...]

The overall results give some credence to suspicions about media bias in party ID in scandal stories. On the other hand, it should be remembered that even in the pre-scandal days, Spitzer was identified as a Democrat much less often than Foley was identified as a Republican.

In 2007-'08, mentions of Foley's party (two of the six Post articles, and one of the five Rocky articles) has dropped, as his name has become a shorthand for a genre of misconduct. Time will tell if "Spitzer" becomes a concise way to say "faithless hypocritical bully."

—E.B.