David Kranz, the dean of South Dakota political reporters, is up to his usual stunts in his contribution today. In his traditional Sunday column, which is touted as a "straight" news story (and therefore purported to be unbiased and unopinionated), he labels GOP House candidate Larry Diedrich a "strong conservative" and Democratic opponent Stephanie Herseth as "considerably more moderate." Excerpt:
[Diedrich] brings his strong conservative philosophy to the campaign, probably against Democrat Stephanie Herseth, who is considerably more moderate.
Bob Kohn, in his book "Journalistic Fraud," discusses the use of labels by the editors of the New York Times to make its political allies seem more reasonable or sympathetic and the NYT's political opponents seem less reasonable or sympathetic. Excerpt from Kohn's book (ppg. 141-142):
It is generally agreed that the words "liberal" and "conservative" have each become pejorative terms in today's political vocabulary. By contrast, the terms "moderate" and "centrist" have become euphemisms. Thus you will find the Times liberally using the term "conservative" to label its opponents but avoiding the use of "liberal" to label its supporters. Instead, to lend credibility to liberals, they will label them as "moderates" wherever possible.
Kohn's method of exposing the bias of the NYT can be applied to expose the bias of David Kranz. Thus, we see that Kranz, instead of labeling political ally Stephanie Herseth a "liberal" (which she is), labeling her a "moderate" in order to give her credibility among independent-minded voters. At the same time, Kranz labels Diedrich a "strong conservative" in order to give him less credibility among independent-minded voters.
On a completely different point, isn't it interesting how only yesterday Kranz wrote that Diedrich had to worry about a Republican primary, but today Kranz writes that Diedrich has to worry about a Democratic primary?
The fundamental point is that it's unconscionable for the Argus Leader to allow David Kranz's opinions to be touted as a straight news story. It would be much more palatable if Kranz's traditional Sunday piece were prominently labeled "News Analysis" at the very top of the piece.
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