Monday, January 5, 2009

Latest McClatchy embarrassment: scrutinizing Levi Johnston but not Bill Richardson

McClatchy must obsessed with Levi Johnson, given the volume of stories it has published on Sarah Palin's future son-in-law.

Most recently McClatchy published a piece reporting a claim that Johnston's participation in an apprentice program might be unethical or illegal.

Just this week McClatchy published stories on Levi Johnston and his family here and here. Back in September a McClatchy columnist objected to news organizations that applied the word "fiance" to Levi Johnston. Also from September, McClatchy published the important news that Levi calls himself "an Alaska redneck."

Serious people might ask, where were the McClatchy investigations on Bill Richardson? Richardson stepped down from consideration for a top cabinet position yesterday, citing a federal corruption probe that has reached Richardson himself.

Unlike Levi Johnston, who merely hopes to learn a trade and support his family, Bill Richardson was nominated to oversee the US Commerce Department. You'd think McClatchy would have done some investigation on Richardson since Obama tapped him a few weeks ago.

Good luck finding any McClatchy pieces digging into Richardson's past.

The only McClatchy article I found from December was a puff piece celebrating Richardson's ethnic heritage.

Richardson has a documented history of shady behavior, so you wonder why McClatchy never even raised an eyebrow. Here's some Richardson gems for you. For decades, Richardson claimed he was drafted by the Kansas City Athletics in 1966 -- but it was a lie. While Ambassador to the United Nations in 1997, he gave a job interview to an intern named Monica Lewinsky for a position at the UN -- at Bill Clinton's request. (I bet you thought UN Ambassadors spent their time advancing the interests of the US. But not Richardson; he was on Bimbo Eruption duty.) As Energy Secretary, Richardson told reporters Wen Ho Lee had given nuclear secrets to the Chinese. Lee was later cleared of wrongdoing and the government had to pay out damages. Lots of behavior for serious journalists to investigate.

The pay-for-play investigation has apparently been going on for months, but McClatchy didn't publish anything on it until Sunday. (The Washington Post was reporting on Richardson's pay-to-play scandal as early as December 16.) (Photo: Charles Dharapak, AP)

Truth to Power?
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Pfffft.
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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

President Selected Obama just needed Richardson long enough to secure the Hispanic vote. “Under the bus with him, he is not the, ur, a, ur, a, sorry folks I lost my teleprompter gismo, he is not the Hispanic I knew.”

The photo looks as if Richardson doesn’t do well under stress. On drive radio, a caller said that 'HRH' Clinton is behind Richardson’s problems, payback is a B**ch!”

Anonymous said...

I wonder, if Richardson ends up in trouble, the media will use the "first xxxxx race/ethnicity/gender" template.

They always reference the sex/race/ethnicity when something they view as positive happens but you aren't going to see a headline reading, "First Hispanic Governor Goes To Prison".

Anonymous said...

McClatchy sinks lower, as if that is even possible. TV news based on an ADN biased article. Insiders say this is the Troopers' union in payback mode for the firing of a fellow trooper loser.
----------------
News 25 ABC

-Alaska Troopers Says Politics Slowed Drug Arrest-

Excerpts:
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - An Alaska newspaper is reporting allegations by a drug investigator that politics delayed the arrest of a woman with ties to Gov. Sarah Palin's family until after the November election.

[The Anchorage Daily News] reports that investigator Kyle Young sent an e-mail to the Public Safety Employees Association saying the case against Johnston "was not allowed to progress in normal fashion" and the search warrant was delayed "because of the
pending election."

[Public Safety Commissioner Joe Masters insists the case was handled fairly.]


http://www.news25.us/dsp_story.cfm?storyid=10606&RequestTimeout=500