There were two very bad stories this week, one each for Ilhan Omar and Tina Smith, but you wouldn’t know it from local media coverage: there wasn’t any. Yes, once again local media simply refuses to report stories that reflect badly on their preferred candidates in their preferred political party. When bad news does happen, local media are dragged kicking and screaming, eventually, for example, to give Keith Ellison a pass on domestic abuse allegations.
Ilhan Omar was accused of even more Minnesota House ethical violations by Rep. Steve Drazkowski. My colleague Christine Bauman wrote about it, setting out all known facts. The rest of Minnesota media simply ignored the story. If they don’t report a story, it never happened. Or so they continue to think.
Drazkowski noticed the media blackout and took to Twitter in the naive belief that these people can be shamed.
Thank you @AlphaNewsMN for covering these repeated violations of law. Where is @StarTribune? @PioneerPress, are you awake? @WCCO are you interested in news, at all? #LawbreakerNews https://t.co/g0oQupVRHc
— Steve Drazkowski (@SteveDraz) August 28, 2018
Tina Smith (PP) was also the beneficiary this week of our media’s overt bias. While some in local media went out of their way to report the personal bankruptcy of Sen. Michelle Benson’s husband, none of them reported on Smith’s husband who has a hedge fund in Bermuda.
Proving once again that Minnesotans have to turn to national outlets in order to be fully informed about what’s going on in their own state, the Washington Free Beacon covered the story noting “Smith’s financial disclosure reveals a vast investment portfolio valued at up to $12 million, mostly consisting of assets owned by her husband.” You simply won’t find any reporting of these straight ahead, uncontested facts by our brave Daniel Pearls.
The next time you see a tweet or a comment on social media claiming that local journalism is essential to a properly functioning democracy or holding local authorities to account, just laugh. It’s the only response to which they’re entitled.
Photo credit: Star Tribune
John Gilmore
John Gilmore is an author, freelance writer & former opinion columnist for Alpha News. He blogs at minnesotaconservatives.org & is @Shabbosgoy on Twitter
