Shoddy Journalism and Controversy Bandwagoneering
The local press has been quite excited lately with the latest Utah Valley controversy: Dick Cheney’s planned commencement speech at the upcoming BYU graduation.
Hoping to garner some attention of her own, SLTrib columnist Rebecca Walsh decided to jump on the controversy bandwagon and fling mud.
Her article titled “Church shows true color - red” makes a plethora of unfounded accusations and unsubstantiated explanations. In a nutshell, Walsh claims that Cheney’s invite to speak at BYU flies in the face of previous statements of political neutrality.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got my own reservations about the Cheney visit. The fact of the matter is, however, that there is far too much speculation in this matter about who knows what. The First Presidency of the Church is on the board of trustees for BYU, yet we do not know the extent of their involvement in this specific invitation, or any of the background detail that would be necessary to lay blame on their doorstep as Walsh has chosen to do.
Walsh notes that the Church-owned university must surely be championing the GOP by extending this visit. However, one wonders where else Walsh might choose to fling her mud given the fact that the Church owns several other entities as well. Does Deseret Book offering one of Sean Hannity’s books on its shelves equate to a political endorsement by the Church? Does reporting favorably about Mitt Romney in the Deseret News indicate a revocation of previously asserted political neutrality?
Walsh has fallen far below the expected standards of journalism with this article. Her piece comes off as nothing more than another anti-Mormon hit piece that the Salt Lake Tribune has made itself famous for over the years.
Amen!
Left by Chris on 03/29/2007Yeah. She will probably win the Pulitzer. *sigh*
Left by Jim Cobabe on 03/29/2007I couldn’t agree more Connor.
Left by Russell on 03/29/2007Talk about shoddy journalism. The problem with the church and Mitt Romney was not that the Deseret News reported favorably on him. Mitt Romney’s campaign had meetings with General Authorities on how the church could enlist support for his campaign. This is not only not politically neutral, it is illegal and could have cost the LDS church its tax-exempt status if they hadn’t backed off from it after the Boston Globe reported on it.
Left by Stenar on 03/29/2007@Stenar
How do you know the context of the meeting? Were you there? This meeting was not illegal - the church can meet with whomever they want. How do you know they weren’t asking permission for Mitt to run?
Left by Chris on 03/29/2007Well, I see a whole lotta folks these days seeming to know everything there is to know about all kinds of things that just aren’t that easy to know about — know what I mean?
I think not. The church issued a statement refuting this story, but apparently people are more enthralled with innuendo and phony scandal. Deseret News report
I suppose if anything illegal was going on, there would be lawsuits and lawyers climbing all over it. Do you see anything like that happening?
There are specific rules governing tax-exempt institutions and political activity. The church’s involvement in political actions does not infringe any of the rules and is legal and ethical in every respect.
A discussion of similar comments that appeared last summer in a SLTrib editorial –
Snail Hollow Gazette: The deceivers who tangle the web…
Left by Jim Cobabe on 03/29/2007The Church has issued an official statement regarding the Cheney invite.
Left by Connor on 03/29/2007