Today's front page Seattle Times story goes beyond simple bias in reporting. It reveals not only poor journalistic standards, but also a perverted sense of priorities. This article is a symptom of a larger pattern of misplaced priorities and poor editorial judgment at the Times. I've decided that I'm not going to pay for their product any more. I cancelled my subscription this morning. If you're similarly disappointed with the Times, you can cancel your subscription by calling (800) 542-0820
(This page has contact info for businesses who wish to cancel their advertising with the Times)
What led me to cancel my subscription --
The amount of effort that was diverted from reporting on more significant matters and was instead used for this pointless article put me over the edge: "Toss out felon vote, Gregoire still wins"
a Seattle Times analysis finds that even if [felon] votes were disqualified, Gregoire would still prevail over GOP challenger Dino Rossi.The Times assigned seven reporters, one researcher and months of travel and database research to look into Republican allegations of felon votes. Nevertheless, the final work product is largely meaningless, for the following reasons:That finding undercuts what has been the most prominent element of the Republicans' case to overturn the election.
1) By its own admission:
The Democrats' list, completed just a little over a week ago, has not been thoroughly analyzed by The Times.So they just make a few quick assumptions about its validity and use it as the basis of a front-page Sunday headline. Of course we should assume that the Democrats allegations will offset the Republican allegations to some extent, but the Times hasn't done enough research to give more than a back of the envelope estimate.
2) The felon vote is only one aspect of the Republicans' case. If the Republicans were basing the entire case on felon votes, it would be one thing, but to take one aspect of the case in isolation and proclaim that it's not enough to determine the contest is irrelevant.
As a matter of priorities, why was the Times spending so much effort researching the felon vote, with the goal, apparently, to debunk Republican allegations? It seems to me that the most significant public policy issue in the court case is not felon votes, but the systemic problems with the way that the elections are administered. If the Times were a serious newspaper (and this article settles the question for me that it is not) then it would have devoted a lot more of its resources to exposing the numerous problems that have arisen in King County, around the state and in the Secretary of State's office. Instead, they've assigned a single reporter, Keith Ervin, to covering the King County mess. Keith has filed a few good articles. But see how they published yesterday's revelation that top election officials were in on the conspiracy to defraud the public with falsified election records:
The article was buried below the fold on the front page of the local section, with the tame headline "Higher up linked to flawed report", and with the teaser for the undermining editorial in the top left corner "County mail ballot report shows sloppy methods, bad judgment, but isn't proof of fraud"
We look to our professional media to be the primary watchdogs on government. The newspapers are among the few institutions that have the resources to investigate malfeasance, corruption and incompetence. The King County elections scandal is one of the most serious violations of public trust by any state or local government where I've lived. This is precisely the sort of issue where the Times needs to be focusing its investigative resources. Nevertheless, the Times has understaffed the investigation, undermined it with a series of foolish partisan editorials and changed the subject by giving more attention to less relevant issues.
Others might choose to pay for their work product. I choose not to. The more pressing problem then, is to create the institutions to do the kind of worthwhile investigative reporting that we used to expect the Times to do.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at May 22, 2005 08:47 AM | Email ThisKeep up the great work Stephan. I look forward to your analysis of the Chelan trial starting tomorrow. Let's hope common sence prevails!
Posted by: Don in Yakima on May 22, 2005 09:23 AMYou KNOW those business owners that advertise in the Times hate the tax and spend government as much as we do- but they spend tens of thousands of dollars in advertising to fund the printing of this garbage.
Seems like feeding the mouth that bites you doesn't it?
I have not paid for a newspaper in 10 years, and don't even consider the Times and PI worth using to cover my garage floor while changing my car's oil. There are free weeklies and junk mail adds that are more absorbant.
If selective reporting is how those on the left hope to maintain the support of their base, how long will it be before their party disintegrates altogether? Good people want facts so they can form their own opinions, not the hopelessly slanted protection that the Times and PI offer to those who continue to hide from the truth . And now good people have sources outside of television and newspapers to find the truth.
The newspaper business, will have to quickly learn to be more honest, or it will be going the way of the wagon wheel.
Posted by: Jeff B. on May 22, 2005 09:27 AMI think we should boycott KING TV too. They took the story this AM, and ran with it. Watching Dem Party Chair profess there was absolutly no proof of Fraud, made me shout at the TV.
The MSM report what they "Want". I plan on Turning off the TUBE. After I email them letting them know how truly Biased they are. I think everyone should notify(email,phone,letters) their advertisers, that is where the money comes from.
Posted by: Chris on May 22, 2005 09:28 AMPosted by: Jeff B. on May 22, 2005 09:29 AM
"That finding undercuts what has been the most prominent element of the Republicans' case to overturn the election."
Well if the Times did a lick of investigative journalism, they would know that the GOP's best case is the law breaking & fraud that went on it King County.
Sharkansky for Pulitizer; Times & P-I for bankruptcy!
http://www.kingcountyjournal.com/opinion.html
Vote early, vote often.
Posted by: DanC on May 22, 2005 09:42 AMWhat is wrong with the mainstream media? Are there no reporters on any staff of any newspaper or TV station in the Seattle area that offers any independant reporting? Are they all only mouthpieces of the liberal agenda?
Maybe it is time to complain to the FCC that the Seattle media has been taken over by the same voice and the joint operating agreement between the Times and PI has only served to continue the staus quo and keeps other independant news media from growing in the Seattle area. It is time for either the Times or the PI to go bye bye and open up competition in the area for a newspaper that is not controlled by the same liberal voice.... Posted by: Cliff on May 22, 2005 09:42 AM
GM did that when the LA times trashed them. The LA times went into victim mode. Expect that to happen if there is any significant drop-off in S.T. advertising revenue. Boo hoo. The question is: can moonbat business advertising support the S.T.?
Posted by: Dogbert on May 22, 2005 09:45 AMThough subscription revenue is only a part of the revenue stream, it greatly influences the amount of advertising revenue. It's the canary in a coal mine. When you continue to lose eyeballs from cancelled subscriptions, you make yourself less appealing for paid advertising.
When you continue to missinform your readers and when these readers recognize the propaganda, they drift away to other sources of information.
I don't browbeat them anymore, but I do let them know, in very graphic detail, why I won't spend money just to be lied to , be insulted, and my sensibilities assaulted.
They are not long for this world.....
Posted by: alphabet soup on May 22, 2005 09:49 AMLong live the Blogfather!!!!!!
Posted by: Tucker on May 22, 2005 09:56 AMBut yes, where IS the concern for the heart of the problems down at KC Elec? They could at least admit their bias instead of pretending to be an impartial paper. ...And the subscriptions continue to dwindle.....
Posted by: Michele on May 22, 2005 09:57 AMI'll tell you what's wrong with the MSM. It's the culture. If a reporter had ideas other than the bland, mouthpiece approved ideas and voiced them independently, his or her career would be very short.
There are a few reporters that have attained the stature necessary to protect them and their place to voice their own ideas. And there are the newspapers that are more objective, and the ones that have opposing columnists for their editorials such as Opinion Journal. But the vast majority of the rank and file work for Hearst or Knight Ridder left leaning papers, where the pary line is the only line.
They've grown up in the dogma of the left they learned from their journalism teachers, and they are surrounded by their colleagues who join them in regurgitating the party line. They either can't or don't want to mention that there's a large iceberg looming off the port bow, because their editors have told them them they are unsinkable and not to question that for any reason.
The band plays on.
Posted by: Jeff B. on May 22, 2005 09:57 AM1 Gregoire won in a recount ONLY after Rossi won in the two previous counts. Remove the "and" and the sentence meaning changes immensely.
2 The Democrats have not submitted a clean list of felons. Previous posts have shown "hundreds" of cross over names between lists.
3 The Democrats list of felons is by county, not by precinct. The majority are in higher population counties where there are democrat stronghold precincts in the highest population precincts.
4 Of the felons who have been reinstated, how many were reinstated after the election?
5 From the Times own statistics, 14% more felons voted for Gregoire. That means with proportional deduction, Rossi would have won by a minimum of 87 votes had the felon votes been removed.
6 The Times admits they are using an old Republican list. The final Republican list just submitted would have higher percentages for each voter having removed the non voters and mistaken identities.
7 And in the side note part of the article, the Times reporter used the complete Republican list in finding his errors, not the corrected list. So, having removed the statistical number of errors, the amount Rossi would have won by would be 110 on just the felon vote.
8 Why is there such a significant difference? The Times reporter is again using county return ratios and not precinct return ratios.
9 Taking into account the thousands of other errors stated in the trial brief, Rossi stood to win by upwards of 300 votes. All without using the Democrats list of voting errors from Pullman (Whitman county), Spokane, Yakima, and other precincts where they failed to mention that Gregoire won over Rossi.
And still my questions remain. Who saw Phillips ballot besides Huenneken? What happened to the military ballots (Brian Suits, etc)? What about selective recanvasing, why was Judge Lum's recanvasing effort allowed to proceed in a partisan way?
Posted by: Mark Beyer on May 22, 2005 09:58 AMAnd sometimes the truth gets through, hate crimes go both ways.
Black man charged with hate crime in threats to (white) TV news crew
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/4883328p-4477868c.html
Thanks for the link...While reading the article, it occured to me that maybe he was "Fed Up" with press, not the color of their skin....
Kinda like the feeling I have for the Seattle MSM.
Posted by: Chris on May 22, 2005 10:19 AMActually, the truth is that I dumped that rag more than ten years ago. I also quit watching broadcast television four years ago. I can honestly say that I haven't missed either even once. I could accomplish the same thing by calling up the garbage company and asking them to back up their truck and dump their trash in my living room. No thanks.
Just call the number Stephan posted and do it! Cold turkey is the way to go. I can tell you from experience that it is intellectually liberating!
I now get all of my news from places like Sound Politics. I prefer to read the facts and then make up my own mind. This is where the advertisers should be spending their money.
Only because it's a news crew. They're special white people.
Posted by: Dogbert on May 22, 2005 10:29 AMhttp://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002284078_felons22m.html
Lowes
Red
Vonage
Dell
I'd also like to see local car dealers unite and take a 2 month sabbatical from advertising in the Times. I'd think for what the gas tax and California emissions bull is going to do to their higher margin cars, they'd be pretty ticked to find that they are subsidizing this propoganda.
per the victim mode- perhaps the unions will come to their rescue?
You are right on when you say that the MSM speaks to those who wish to hide from the truth.
For years I have believed Democrates have appealed to the illiterate, homeless, uneducated, or those who don't seek the truth or who will be satisfied with a front "Page Sound Bite" as recited to them by a cohort.
I think people today are more literate and do seek the truth more than in the past. As a result Blogs are becoming the source of reporting and on a daily basis Blogs expose false reporting.
This Election Contest process to date has not only exposed a corrupt election system but has also exposed the bias and unwillingness of the MSM to report the news in a "Fair and Balanced" way.
Thanks Stefan and SP. Posted by: Keith on May 22, 2005 10:51 AM
Dear Lowes,
At the corporate level, Lowes is an advertiser with the Seattle Times and because of this, you are losing me as a customer. Until this morning I was a weekly customer for all of my home improvement projects. The Lowes store in Lacey is more convenient than either Home Deport or Walmart.
Today’s article regarding the court challenge to the 2004 Wa Governor's election went beyond biased reporting to blatant partisan propaganda. While I can appreciate the need to create impressions with potential customers, you are losing me as customer at your Lacey Wa store until I see a notification on Sound Politics (www.soundpolitics.com) that you have cancelled your advertising with the Seattle Times for this summer. I respect the first amendment, but that Times seems to have an agenda of political bias and make it a practice to omit significant facts regarding corruption in our state government.
As long as you advertise with the Seattle Times I will take my business across the freeway to Home Depot or Walmart.
Is that how they "Appear" Partisan? If only the Average Reader/watcher could see the blatent Double Talk of the MSM.
I am going to make a list of on air advertisers, and email each one of them, letting them know I wont buy/support their products.
Posted by: Chris on May 22, 2005 10:55 AMThe MSM's myopic concentration on the felon vote began a couple of months ago when it appeared on face value to be bad news for the Democrats. The Times crows that it threw an entire battalion of reporterial resources into digging up 'scientific' support for Paul Berendt's meme of Republican-felons-cancel-Democratic-felons-so-neener-neener. Those were resources that just incidentally were diverted away from the King County election debacle. Yet any citizen concerned about a crooked election process needed a thorough and detailed examination of King County - which the Times appears to have decided to avoid very early in the game. Why?
The Times knew from the history of the two King County elections prior to 2004 that the County staff and equipment were institutionally disinterested in rigorous accounting methods for ballots. It would follow that by turning its attention away from the County process, the Times provided the cover of darkness which enabled anonymous urban fanatics to stuff ballot boxes and play fast and loose with registration laws. The 'count every ballot' mantra was just icing on the cake after those conditions were created.
Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive on May 22, 2005 10:57 AMToday the Seattle Times used incredibly poor judgment in publishing an extremely biased story described below. As long as Vonage spends advertising dollars with the Times, you will not gain me as a customer. I have a full time job and a small business and have a legitimate need for your service- so I am your target customer; Vonage is a good model for a second line for my business.
Today’s Seattle Times article regarding the court challenge to the 2004 Wa Governor's election went beyond biased reporting to blatant partisan propaganda. While I can appreciate the need to create impressions with potential customers, I will not support any business the funds this type of journalism. I hope you will see it clearly that it is of good business sense to look to other advertising media in the Seattle area and suspend your spending with the Seattle Times. I hope I will also see a notification on Sound Politics (www.soundpolitics.com) that you have cancelled your advertising with the Seattle Times for this summer.
I respect the first amendment, but that Times seems to have an agenda of political bias and makes it a practice to omit significant facts regarding corruption in our state government. Today’s story was the last straw.
In the meantime- pound on ST advertisers to go on sabbatical.
Posted by: Andy on May 22, 2005 11:17 AMIt's my guess that the editors at the Times so altered the story submitted by the actual reporters that they couldn't give credit for the resulting story to the reporters who had worked on it.
I know that the Times editors change stories and I know that reporters object, but they have no power to prevent the alterations from getting into print.
Maybe the Times and PI should get new names when referred to on Sound Politics. We should refer to them as the "Seattle Democrat Times" and the "Seattle Democrat Post-Non-Intelligencer"?
Posted by: Mike on May 22, 2005 11:18 AM
(206) 364-2200
--Satchel Paige
What the MSM is hearing is their own demise, hastened by their own hand.
The Seattle Slimes article focus on one leg of a multidimensional case being presented by Team Rossi.
The MSM is incapable of having an in depth examination of an issue be it the war on terror, taxation, judicial nomination, or the KC election fiasco. I can't tell if it is the MSM that unable to look seriously and in-depth at an issue or they are so arrogant that do not believe us peons are capable of understanding "nuance." Remember JFK was so nuanced and we the electorate was so stupid not to see it and elected GWB.
I think it is a combination of things. Journalism has a left bias for a multitude of reasons. They then fit the story to their bias, tilted toward their own preferred outcome. Then dumb it down for the unwashed masses. Leaving out anything that would be contrary to the predetermined story line, so that the illiterati will say, I saw it in the paper it must be so.
With the advent of talk radio, the net and the blogshpere any one looking for more information can now find it.
The Truth is Out There, and it is more and more available.
One these days a MSM outlet on the verge of extinction will figure out that telling the who what why where when with no editorializing or spin will bring audience and readers back in droves.
What also works is up front bias. Media that works, Magazines, Blogs, Papers or what not that is out front and says we are thus and thus and is realable from that vantage will continue to do well. First they have a loyal following, second the opposition goes to them for that opinion and spin.
Until the MSM gets over it's elitism, something will continue to gain on them. Dadum Dadum THE SHARK ;-)
Posted by: JCM on May 22, 2005 11:29 AMFurthermore, I really question the timing of the publication of this 'story'. The day before the case is to go to trial? When did it become acceptable for media to orchestrate the release of stories to co-incide with related events? We saw this in the november elections where the NY times attempted to use the al Quaqaa story to help bring down Bush. I would think that, were the allegations in this segment factual (which is highly questionable), they would have warrented publication immediately; the odds that the Times' investigation just happened to conclude right before the trial is to begin are so slim that they cannot be readily accepted.
What's obvious to me is that this is an attempt by the Times to stoke up the democratic base right before the trial. If the trial results in Gregiore's removal, the base will be incensed and her removal from office will be deemed illegitimate, more so than without the Times interjecting this propoganda into public opinion surrounding this matter.
This is a truly disgusting example of irresponsible partisanship on the part of the Times.
Posted by: Morisseau on May 22, 2005 11:33 AM"How we did it"
http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_052205WA_SEATTLEONLY_electionfelonsSW.29cf2ab9d.html
"The Times spent nearly three months examining the Republicans' list of alleged felon voters. The Democrats released their list only recently and without court-case numbers, making it impossible to do a similar investigation.
But the Seattle Times did just that, the impossible....
In the same article:
"But a Seattle Times analysis finds that even if those votes were disqualified, Gregoire would still prevail over GOP challenger Dino Rossi."
That statement is made after admitting that it is "impossible to do a similar investigation".
How can they do an analysis on information that they admit that they cannot perform a similar investigation? Is this unbelievable or what? Let's pick apart the Republicans claims and accept the Democrats claim at face value?
If this is not a plain and simple case of partisan reporting what is it?
The authors of this report should be ashamed of themselves...
"This story was reported by Cheryl Phillips, Justin Mayo, Emily Heffter, Jonathan Martin, Mike Carter and Nick Perry, and written by Heffter. Researcher Miyoko Wolf and reporter David Heath also contributed."
Robert Mak should be ashamed of himself, to be used as a puppet by the Dem machine is just disgraceful.
Very well said. Posted by: Mark Beyer on May 22, 2005 11:43 AM
WTG Stefan for posting their number in your headline.
Can you imagine? Had I not stumbled on Sound Politics last winter, I would be hearing only what the Times and NWCN was reporting and wondering why on earth the republicans were even doing this.
Andy is right, let their advertisers know you won't buy from them as long as they advertise in that rag.
Dropping circulation does help, because their advertising rates are determined in part by how many subscribers they have. Posted by: cc on May 22, 2005 12:16 PM
An unintended consequence (?)is that it will make it more important that Team Rossi focuses on other corrupted aspects of this election in a clear and convincing manner. Hopefully Judge Bridges will show some flexibility and unbiased intelligence and listen to all of the evidence before rendering a decision on what will and what won't be accepted. The Dems have already given away what they are going to try and do. We are fighting for decency and accountability vs. the sloppy, unaccountable, lowest common denominator status quo that the MSM pathetically adheres to .
Posted by: KS on May 22, 2005 02:30 PMAn unintended consequence (?)is that it will make it more important that Team Rossi focuses on other corrupted aspects of this election in a clear and convincing manner. Hopefully Judge Bridges will show some flexibility and unbiased intelligence and listen to all of the evidence before rendering a decision on what will and what won't be accepted. The Dems have already given away what they are going to try and do. We are fighting for decency and accountability vs. the sloppy, unaccountable, lowest common denominator status quo that the MSM pathetically adheres to .
Posted by: KS on May 22, 2005 02:30 PMThere are so many errors and ommissions in this story - the reporters should work for King County Elections!
I am embarrassed for the Seattle Times and King 5!
Posted by: Deborah on May 22, 2005 04:16 PMHere is their URL:
republicanradio.com/hellopages.php
In the meantime here is a short list of some major leftist supporting businesses that don't deserve one dime of your hard earned money:
Costco - Big tim democrat donor
Amazon.com
Barnes & Noble
"Y A W N .
when will you republicans just admit that you've lost and are digging the hole deeper for yourselves? you are such hypocrites, bush never cared about the counting being done at enron but you want to count votes until you lose again."
Or something like that. Was that OK, or does it need less coherency? Does it feel more like home now?
Posted by: TB on May 22, 2005 08:43 PMHmmm..Well....Nice touch adding a Bush bash! Definitely gives it *troll* credibility! (heh..if there is such a thing...)
Your post reminded me of something I've noticed absent in the troll posts lately...'Gregoires' Name! They will go on about Bush, Iraq, Karl Rove, Rossi, and the upcoming trial, ...but they pretty much have given up on voicing their support for Gregoire...at least by name!
I wonder if this is a conscious effort or a hint at their defeat?
Some one suggested developing a list of the Times advertisers to contact with these emails/letters.
Why not develop that list and then sent one email with as many of the thousands of possible SP viewers that hit Stefans Blog each day (like an email chain letter). It would take a massive email list to be routed that way but it would knock the socks of both the Times and its advertisers. I have seen a few chain letter emails with more signatures then I could count a time or two. Maybe Stefan could set one up that everyone could sign on too for a week or two before sending. A lot of work I know, so maybe consider as just a thought.
As a boycott, it's probably not going to do much good hitting the companies with the large inserts to Sunday's papers but the printed ads in sections A and B, oooh yeah. Posted by: PC on May 23, 2005 08:09 AM
Last year, the father's rights movement was able to get Dominoes at the corporate level to withdraw support for the state of Michigan's deadbeat dad campaign. The state was giving kids free pizzas to draw a picture of their dad as a criminal in handcuffs. This program was put together by their AG (sound familiar?/see a trend?)
Posted by: Andy on May 23, 2005 09:31 AMI won't even let my cockatiel crap on either one of them.
The pablum they served up Sunday doesn't surprise me in the least.
A friend of mine named Ken Towery did something about 40 years ago that I aspired to do but didn't quite do: won the Pulitzer Prize. Ken Towery was a young journalist who exposed Billy Sol Estes as a fraud.
Ken has two rules for any reporter who has worked for him, and it served me well for my years in the media.
How do you become a good reporter?
1. Get off your butt.
2. Get out the door and dig.
Sadly, the Times not only didn't follow any standards of fairness, propriety or even honesty...but apparently staff members are too damned lazy to follow the rules of good reporting.
Posted by: SnoCo Voter on May 23, 2005 09:56 AM