The Star has a mantra to “provide balance and fairness” in every story. Yet, earlier this year, I wrote criticizing The Star’s completely one-sided coverage of the Social Security issue, basically the side of Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara.
Now, The Star has done the same thing with the Hurricane Katrina disaster, blaming the problem on President Bush and the federal government. On Sept. 4, there were four stand-alone articles on the subject. The Star picked an obscure, seemingly disgruntled ex-government employee, Tom Parker, to write, “New Orleans is Bush’s Waterloo.”
Then, on Sept. 7, The Star chose another obscure law professor (write Democrat), Paul Campos, from a mediocre college with a lukewarm law school reputation to write “White House spin on disaster slanders Louisiana governor.” Sept. 8, there were two stand-alone write-ups, one by Sen. Barbara Boxer, a Democrat and well-known shill for the party, and the other by Thomas Friedman, a well-known liberal columnist for The New York Times.
We all know the blame should be spread around — even Time magazine recently featured a story that stated this. But show me one article in The Star that mentions the possible incompetence of Louisiana’s governor or the mayor of New Orleans.
When President Bush recently took the ultimate blame, it was specifically for the federal government’s role. I could go into chapter and verse about all the things The Star omitted to print about the Katrina situation.
Is The Star being intentionally dishonest in whitewashing Bush, or is it just so political that it cannot report fairly? This is just the second major issue where The Star has failed to offer an opposing viewpoint. In either case, The Star should remove “fairness” and “accuracy” from the five principles it supposedly stands for.
— Jeff Wiese, Oxnard
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