The Broken Media, Part 2

I love it when I post something and the validation for my thoughts come at me the very next day.

This morning, the Star Tribune ran front page, above the fold, the story of an indictment being handed down to Bill Davis and his son Jordan for misusing $250K in taxpayer money, while the senior Davis was the director of Community Action of Minneapolis.  It would've been the main story on the front page if not for the tragic murder/suicide in Greenwood.  The Davis' are African American, and I believe they're Democrats.

Is it a legit story?  Sure it is, although I don't think it's front page above the fold material.  For some reason, the Star Tribune did, but when a far worse story of abuse of taxpayer dollars happened, done by a white Republican, I don't recall the Star Tribune putting that story above the fold, or even on the front page.

State Senator Sean Nienow, a Republican from Cambridge, was the subject of a civil complaint earlier this year, filed in US District Court, where he stopped making payments on a Small Business Administration loan he and his wife had received.  He stopped making payments 18 months after he received the loan, and owed in the realm of $750K, three times the amount abused by Davis.  Not only that, but the story of Nienow's loan approval opens up even more questions, some real head scratchers.  He somehow secured a 600K+ base loan with the title of a house worth less than 150K, for a business idea ( a summer camp location service for upscale clients) which was weak at best.  Okay...

If I remember correctly, the Star Tribune placed that story on the front page of the B section, below the fold.  I'll check the next time I'm at the library and I'll post an update here when I confirm.

Now for the record I think both of these stories should be covered.  The one involving a Democrat - 250K, front page above the fold.  The one involving the Republican, a sitting Senator - 750K, buried in the back of the paper.

Not only did they down play a FAR larger abuse of taxpayer dollars by the Republican, and not only did this story not immediately warrant their news department following up with a story on how he even qualified for the loan, the Star Tribune's story actually downplayed the amount Nienow and his wife owed, referring to the original loan amount of $613K in the headline, implying it was less of a crime, even though he clearly owed 750K.

I also did get two people brining up a comparison between Jim Newberger, the Republican Representative from Becker who made the racist "joke" about north Minneapolis, and Rep. Ron Erhardt, the Democrat from Edina who made less than civil comment about the bird flu crisis in the Minnesota farming community.  They were insisting Newberger was ignored by local media, while Erhardt was ripped apart.  I remember both incidents getting covered, and Erhardt deserved grief for his tone deaf remarks, but Newberger was covered FAR less in the Twin Cities media.  Also, the media drove the chants of shame towards Erhardt, but after Republican House Speaker Kurt Daudt said he wouldn't make Newberger apologize on the House floor, the same place he made the insensitive comment, the Twin Cities media made the story vanish.