WhatFinger


When Curt Schilling questions Jewish support of Democrats, it's "controversial remarks."

USA Today still losing its mind over ballplayers saying conservative things



If you don't really understand how media bias works, you'll miss it a lot of the time. Media bias isn't just a matter of supposedly objective reporters slipping editorial comments into what should be straight news stories, although it's sometimes that. Just as often, it's what they choose to present to you as the lead that defines what the story is. Consider the following story lead from USA Today, which has been flipping out recently over the gall of some baseball players in daring to express opinions of a conservative nature. The story is that Curt Schilling, the one-time major league pitcher who's thinking about running against Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts, expressed wonderment about why so many Jewish people support the Democratic Party, given the Democrats antipathy toward Israel.
So if you're doing a straight news lead, it would sound like this: "Former pitcher Curt Schilling, who is considering a run for the U.S. Senate, said last week that he finds the support of Jewish voters for Democrats hard to understand." You're giving the who, what, when and why without making an editorial judgment. But is that how USA Today played it? Of course not:
Curt Schilling continues to make waves with controversial remarks. Days after the former Boston Red Sox pitcher expressed a desire to run for a Massachusetts Senate seat in 2018 opposite Elizabeth Warren, Schilling asked Jake Tapper on CNN's The Lead why Jews support the Democratic Party. "I don't understand — and this is, maybe this is the amateur, non-politician in me — I don't understand how people of Jewish faith can back the Democratic Party," Schilling said, "which over the last 50 years has been so clearly anti-Israel, so clearly anti-Jewish Israel.

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"I don't know what else would need to be done, said or happen for people to understand that they don't — the Democratic Party is alive for Israel only because we have agreements in place to make them have to be." Tapper, who is Jewish, told the ex-ace that he doesn't speak for people of his faith, but opined that the reason is because Jews support social welfare programs. "And I know a lot of Jews who are very strong supporters of Israel do support the Republican Party," Tapper responded, "but again, I don't speak for Jews."
The lead of the story is a lie. What major controversy has erupted over what Schilling said? I'm sure Democrats won't like it, especially Jews who vote Democrat, but just because you say something that not everyone agrees with doesn't mean your statement qualifies as a "controversial remark." By writing the lead that they did, USA Today was trying to create the impression that Schilling's statement was over the top, beyond the pale and completely unacceptable for polite society. But if you read what he actually said, it was nothing of the sort. Schilling said it makes no sense to him that Jews don't support Democrats because Democrats are so anti-Israel. Tapper responds that maybe it has more to do with social welfare policy.

USA Today wants you to believe that Schilling said something outrageous

It's a perfectly rational discussion, with both men making legitimate points. Yet USA Today wants you to believe that Schilling said something outrageous. And in truth, they probably would not have covered what he said at all if not for the purpose of portraying it that way. You can decide for yourself if what Schilling said deserved the "controversial" label, but it's not up to a reporter to tell you that you're supposed to think that - especially when no major controversy has actually erupted. What they really mean is, "Curt Schilling expresses an opinion that USA Today doesn't like." By the way, they actually did their own video interview with Schilling in which he talks about the evolution in his political thinking, and it's quite good, mainly because it's Schilling who does most of the talking. Here it is:


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Dan Calabrese’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain

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