When a reporter is not doing her job (updated)

Here is a Missourinet story,

Bond says the deem and pass rule exists to make technical corrections to legislation when it goes to a vote. He says there’s no way the healthcare package qualifies as a “technical correction.”

Then later in the story without any notice:

The self-executing rule has been used by both parties over the years since the Great Depression. A recent example is when the House used it to increase the federal debt ceiling


That's right the reporter Jessica Machetta has done her research, found out the truth that the "deem and pass" has been used for things other than "technical corrections" such as raising our federal debt ceiling, but she doesn't confront Senator Bond. She doesn't get an official response as to whether raising the debt ceiling is important and if deem and pass is proper there. If it's unconstitutional for healthcare, wouldn't that also be true for all the times it's been used before?

The Republicans are using the media's laziness, and desire for political fights against the American people. I stipulate Democrats do the same but we as a party haven't been brazen enough to do it to such lengths that hurt the nation. When Democrats demagogued the Iraq War, notice we still funded the War and actually didn't affect the policy. It was all politics. It was about direction. When the rubber met the road, as a party we didn't use rules and procedures to harm our nation. That was the right thing to do. I say that as an anti-war person. You have to respect the process, and make sure you leave a nation better off than when you found it. If you attack the rules, manipulate the press and the people, it will be difficult in the future to go back to normal.

The press can help Republicans save themselves by reporting, researching, and confronting with the facts.

This Republican strategy only makes sense if they never expect to have power again.
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(update)-email correspondence:

Hi,

I blog at

http://craigfarmer.blogspot.com/2010/03/when-reporter-is-not-doing-her-job.html


I asserted that you didn't do your job because Senator Bond made a factually untrue statement about Congress only using "Deem and pass" for technical reasons. You correctly state later on that Congress has used it to raise the Debt Ceiling and other measures.

But, many readers may not know that the Debt Celing raise is not a technical reason, and that Bond is incorrect.

Why didn't you ask him or his office to comment on his inaccurate statement?

When reporters just report something that is untrue it poisons the public discourse.

You need to make it clear to those not smart enough to figure it out or not paying close attention that the statements you are reporting are not true.

Otherwise you are not reporting, you are repeating lies.

I say Lie because I'm sure Sen. Bond knows that what he is saying is not true.

Please comment, and I'll post your response online.

Craig Farmer



From: Bob Priddy
Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2010 1:21 PM
To: Jessica Machetta
Subject: RE: article:"Bond slams deems and pass"

Hello Craig.

Thanks for your note about Senator Bond’s discussion of Deem and Pass. Jessica is a good reporter but like many reporters, including me, not well-versed on the inside operations of Congress. We talk to the Senator weekly if not more often than that. You’ve given us a follow-up question to ask. We’ll try to raise the issue with him in one of our next interviews.



Bob Priddy

News Director