...last weekend, Bachmann went a conservative evangelical broadcast to allege that the President of the United States is party to a conspiracy to impose Sharia law on Americans...
...and the PiPress and Minnesota Public Radio actually reported that story, here in Minnesota. (The MinnPost also reported the incident.)
That is a big breakthrough, for MPR and the PiPress. Michele Bachmann's tradition of going on evangelical radio to circulate smears and bizarre conspiracy theories dates back to at least 2004, when she was a mere Minnesota State legislator. At that time and for years after, MPR and the PiPress would not run stories quoting her bizarre claims: about how Minnesota public schools would "immediately begin teaching homosexuality" to K-12 students if her proposed gay marriage ban amendment failed; about how then-Governor Tim Pawlenty was practicing Marxist economic policy.
Over at the Star Tribune: nothing so far, no story about Bachmann allegation that President Obama is party to "a Sharia law for America" conspiracy. (As of this morning, the Strib's latest story on Bachmann is "Bachmann praises latest Medicaid Probe.")
(CONTINUED)
But if this "new policy of reporting controversial things that Bachmann says--to Minnesotans--when she says them" becomes a trend at the PiPress and MPR...can the Star Tribune continue to cower?
I don't mean to make too much of this. The PiPress story on the Obama Muslim conspiracy interview was just an item on one of their news blogs; I don't know if it made their print edition.
But the MPR piece appeared on their excellent "Capitol Roundup" blog--that's pretty good placement. So there's reason for hope...
Listen: we never demanded that straight news reporting at the PiPress, MPR, or the Strib identify Bachmann as a "nut." (She is. But we never demanded that these Minnesota news icons identify her that way to the public. That's no part of a reporter's job.)
All we've been asking (for years on end; in my case since before 2006) is that the PiPress, MPR, and the Strib report the controversial statements she makes them, in a timely manner. That's all we wanted. It was always part of their job, to do that. There's no question that remarks bigotry, smears and conspiracy theory are newsworthy--when those remarks come from an elected official.
I hope the PiPress and MPR, at least, maintain the necessary guts to keep reporting this stuff as it happens. Here's a copy of my thank you note to MPR, sent last night:
Thanks for running this story (about Bachmann's Obama Muslim conspiracy theory) here on MPR. Since 2006 I've been trying to get MPR (and other Minnesota news media) to run timely reporting of Bachmann's most extreme charges and statements. I sent in actual examples back then, including quotes from Bachmann appearances on programs like "Understanding The Times." (Yes, she was spouting similar extremist paranoia and conspiracy theory on the very same program you mention in (your) story, as far back as 2004. I've still got some recordings of that, if you're ever interested.)Bachmann was already a Minnesota State Senator and US Congressional candidate when she went on record with paranoid, ultraright claims. Even so, there was tremendous resistance in Minnesota media to reporting that sort of Bachmann statement to the public. (Even when there were actual recordings of her saying this stuff!) At the Star Tribune, the Pioneer Press, here at MPR--it was like talking to a brick wall, trying to get the state's leading news media to do a story on it.
As a result Bachmann was able to get away with murder, when it came to controlling public perception of her here in Minnesota. The reluctance of the state's press to quote her spouting bigotry or conspiracy theories helped her tremendously during congressional campaigns. The situation didn't change until media outside the state started acquainting Minnesotans with this congressmember's most controversial and newsworthy views.
I hope the story you've run above is representative of new willingness at MPR to report her most provocative statements in a timely manner, as soon as you can source them adequately.
LINK: MPR's story...
http://minnesota.publicradio.o...
LINK: PiPress news blog story...
http://blogs.twincities.com/po...