If it is not news in the Arizona Daily Star does the news still exist?
by Hugh Holub on Jul. 03, 2011, under politicsIt is really interesting to watch what constitutes “news” in the mainstream media in Tucson.
There are four national stories with Tucson connections that have been virtually ignored by the Arizona Daily Star.
The first story is the link between the murder of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry and the ATF “walked” guns that were found at Terry’s murder scene south of Tucson.
The ATF Gunwalker scandal was hatched at the ATF office in Phoenix.
Congress is busy chewing on ATF and the US Department of Justice over how the federal government could look the other way and let thousands of guns fall into the hands of the Mexican drug cartels and the criminals who killed agent Terry.
ATF “Fast and Furious” goat somewhere between Holder and Melson
The Star…missing in action.
This is a story that is likely to garner CBS Report Sharyl Atkkisson a Pulitzer Prize nomination sitting right in the Star’s own back yard.
The second major story also has a border connection…who started all the border fires?
From the Tucson Weekly by Leo Banks:
The incident commander says the Murphy Fire was started by a man in distress
This story has gone from circumstantial evidence claims to Leo Banks’ nailing the Murphy Fire to an alien in distress, who was caught by the Border Patrol and then deported because the Coronado National Forest managers refused to prosecute.
In any other community the daily paper would be all over this story.
The Star: missing in action again.
A related issue and third story which is going to be the subject of another Congressional Hearing July 8th is the role the Endangered Species Act and federal land managers play in hampering the Border Patrol from actually securing the border at the border.
The fire starters would not have been on National Forest lands if the Border Patrol had been able to secure the border at the border.
More on how federal land managers compromise border security
More on how environmental rules are hampering Border Patrol operations near the Mexican border
Tucson’s own Congressman Raul Grijalva is up to his eyeballs in responsibility for putting environmental protection ahead of border security.
The border south of Tucson is ground zero in this issue.
The Star: what story?
Finally, the fourth national story is about the mother of all environmental litigation factories…the Center for Biological Diversity…which is based in Tucson.
The CBD and other groups bury the federal government in endangered species listings and demands for habitat conservation plans….and get millions in taxpayer funded legal fees as a result under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA).
This is drawing the attention of Congress.
If there are going to be major changes in the Endangared Species Act they will be the result of abuse by the Center for Biological Diversity.
Center for Biological Diversity — a multi-million dollar environmental litigation factory
The Star functions more like a blog for the Center for Biological Diversity.
Even the Tucson Weekly took a shot at the Center for Biological Diversity recently, publishing Ted William’s commentary:
By harassing the feds to make a profit, the Center for Biological Diversity makes environmentalists look bad
Finally, as an example of how skewed the Star really is in manipulating “news” to support its causes…. the Star ran a banner story recently showing a “before” and “after” picture of what the Rosemont Mine would look like from the Sonoita highway (SR 83).
The Star conveniently omitted publishing the conclusion in the federal Draft Environmental Impact Statement that no one from Tucson or Green Valley would be able to see the proposed alternative version of the mine or its tailings piles from Interstate 19 or Interstate 10.
The DEIS did not even do a “before” and “after” simulation from what is called “Viewpoint 9″ because there is going to be no difference.
Don’t you think this is news for people in Tucson and Green Valley who believe they will be able to see the mine?
But the Star ran a banner headline and a picture of the view from State Route 83. How many Tucsonans have ever even driven down State Route 83?
The Star’s front page was little more than a campaign brochure for Save the Scenic Santra Ritas.
Newspapers in general like to present themselves as unbiased sources of news.
There is sufficient evidence that the Star has, for whatever reasons….budget cuts…editorial bias….become little more than a platform for advocacy of particular interest groups in Tucson and most obviously radical environmental groups and open border advocates.
The Tucson Citizen…which used to be a newspaper… is now just an assembly of individual blogs put together by people who are not hesitant to demonstrate their advocacy positions.
Between all different sides being expressed in the Citizen you actually can get a pretty good 360 degree view of things.
Is the Star providing the full circle of views about what is going on here? No.
The Tucson Weekly, which has always been a left-of-center expression of Tucson’s cultural and environmental scene, is managing to scoop the Star on national impact stories using free lance writers. Leo Banks’ border fire starter stories are award-winning efforts.
Ironically, one can find out more about what is going on regarding Tucson….especially in the national context…. in the Tucson Weekly and the Tucson Citizen.
There is the question” “if a tree falls in a forest and there is no one around…does it make a sound when it falls?”
There really is news going on in Tucson….but if the Star ignores the newsi, that doesn’t mean news does not exist. One just has to look elsewhere to find out what is really going on.
July 3rd, 2011 on 9:33 am
Another story missed, both here and at the Star, is a CNN report about Americans being warned about crossing the border at Laredo, Tx. due to reports that the drug cartel will be targeting Americans.
July 3rd, 2011 on 10:27 am
Not only are they biased in selection of stories, they often tweak words. For example, the anti-illegal immigration bill (1070) is generally referred to as the anti-immigration bill. I see that in most main-stream media. That is one reason why we have cancelled our subscription to the STAR.
July 3rd, 2011 on 11:39 am
If you want any real sports news, you have to get another “paper’ or go on-line to get it. The Star prints the few sports pages only for the revenue it generates.
July 3rd, 2011 on 1:41 pm
The Star also practices content bias in stories about the environment, especially climate change. I’ve been keeping track of the climate change stories. The Star publishes almost all of the alarmist, sky-is-falling stories while ignoring real science that challenges the orthodoxy of global warming. Once when I called them on it, they claimed that they didn’t have access to the other stories.
Another thing I’ve found is that they take wire-service stories, such as AP stories at face value without checking facts. To me, this indicates bias or laziness on the part of the editors.
July 3rd, 2011 on 2:44 pm
Good article Hugh!
July 3rd, 2011 on 2:50 pm
This is the very epitome of the pot calling the kettle black.
July 3rd, 2011 on 3:25 pm
I’ve said it for years – The AZ Daily Star is a propaganda broadsheet, not an authentic newspaper.
July 3rd, 2011 on 9:30 pm
They are not in the news business they are agenda driven.
July 3rd, 2011 on 9:42 pm
When one is in the business of “shaping the debate”, and you know there is no way you can win……..you choose not to have that debate.
July 3rd, 2011 on 9:44 pm
What happened to the AZDS staff anyways? did they buy out all the old staff and bring in a bunch of fresh kids?
This is a serious question
July 4th, 2011 on 10:49 am
Some good points and always appreciate hearing from thinking libertarians, even if from the right side of that perspective (yes, there are progressive libertarians out there too). No paper, even if we agree with its liberal bias, should be withholding major news stories. In their defense, however, several of these stories are exclusives to other papers and news organizations. Since most of us get our news from many internet sources these days, the purported bias of the Star can at least be ameliorated by reading the other sources you mention. Anyway, good piece even if I don’t necessarily agree with the ideological critique of the Star.
July 4th, 2011 on 11:55 am
“In their defense, however, several of these stories are exclusives to other papers and news organizations.”
AzDS had been made aware of the accusations LONG before Atkkinson at CBS even began looking into this story. They chose to do nothing then and they chose to do nothing now.
I recall a big Az story that started a few years ago far north of Tucson. The AzDS and even national news oultlets ran many stories regarding this issue as it played out over the years. But then about 18 months ago the story took a major turn, infact that major turn was the biggest story of all.
There was no story on this in the AzDS. I emailed Ms. Kornmueller (sp) about this and she stated that since it was not a ‘local story’ they did not plan on covering it. In a follow up email I pointed out that it was obviously ‘local’ enough to cover over the years so why not now.
I got no reply to that one.
The bottom line is that as the story progressed it fit neatly into the ‘opinions’ expressed on the editorial page. But once the tables turned, they were no longer interested…
As I said before…..’agenda driven’
July 4th, 2011 on 12:57 pm
The Star spends too much time placating to the Liberals. They take you off commenting if you say something they don’t like. I keep my subscription only because of Rob O’Dell. He is great, don’t know how they keep letting him write. They don’t let anyone else say anything.
I used to take the Citizen too, too bad the Star didn’t go under and leave the Citizen.
July 4th, 2011 on 1:52 pm
Yeah the daily star is for news this is just a gossip column.
July 4th, 2011 on 4:16 pm
My biggesst complaint with the ADS is that there basic questions that go unanswered in so many of their stories. WHo, What, When, Where, How, and Why ae the basics. Particularly with crime reporting the who, how and why answers are missing. Anything having to do with local politics, the who knew what and when did they know question almost always goes unanswered.
To be fair Rhonda Bodefield, Rob O’Dell and Tim Stellar try. Brady McCombs is real good at mouthpiecing for any government agency that has a press releas for him.
If however the people involved are conservative, then one often finds a thorough questioning from the ADS.
The ADS editorial board has become the house organ for the progressive socialist agenda.
Fitzsimmons just sucks. I wouldn’t mind but he has no competition. If he had competition he would either fade away into obscurity or he would step up his game and lampoon just as viciously when the left screws up, but he is always much kinder and forgiving to them.
July 5th, 2011 on 12:26 am
Rob ODell did open up the Rio Nuevo mess. Grant him that. They also never report how bad the hispanic crime is.
July 4th, 2011 on 10:06 pm
“There really is news going on in Tucson….but if the Star ignores the newsi, that doesn’t mean news does not exist. One just has to look elsewhere to find out what is really going on.”
Ya think?? I quit buying it years ago.