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Difference Between Media's Treatment of Dem. Who Used Racial Slur & Republicans Is Disgraceful

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It has been pointed out on countless occasions, for countless years, how the predominantly liberal mainstream “establishment” media maintain two separate standards when it comes to providing coverage of elected officials caught in a scandal, depending upon which political party that public figure represents.

Yet another display of the disparate media treatment of Democrats versus Republicans has been revealed in the case of a Democratic delegate in Maryland’s state legislature who has now publicly apologized for using a racial slur.

A quick glance at the headlines surrounding the story would doubtless leave readers initially confused as to what party that racial slur-using politician belonged to.

The Washington Post first reported on the slur and apology by Democratic Maryland Delegate Mary Ann Lisanti, a white woman who is alleged to have used the N-word in a discussion with fellow Democratic lawmakers at an Annapolis cigar bar in January.

It was reported that Lisanti, while speaking with a white fellow lawmaker, had characterized his campaigning in a predominantly black district of Prince George’s County on behalf of another candidate as “door-knocking in a ‘n—– district,'” a charge she initially disputed but has now confirmed as occurring.

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As punishment, she was ordered to attend sensitivity training and stripped of her leadership position on the unemployment insurance subcommittee of the House Economic Matters Committee by Democratic House Speaker Michael E. Busch.

The article itself was fairly neutral in presenting the allegations, Lisanti’s admission and apology, and remarks about the situation by fellow Democratic legislators. However, it is worth noting that The Post did not include Lisanti’s party affiliation in the article’s headline, and only mentioned the affiliation in passing in the second paragraph.

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Similarly, a report from NBC News neglected to mention in a headline about the story that Lisanti was a Democrat, and waited until the end of the third of only four paragraphs to briefly note that she was a Democrat.

Likewise, a report on Lisanti’s racial slur from the CBS affiliate in Baltimore refrained from mentioning that she was a Democrat in the headline, and only referenced her party affiliation one time with a (D) after her name in the second paragraph.

Now, with those three stories in mind, look at how some of those same media organizations reacted to similarly race-based stories involving Republicans.

When The Washington Post reported in January on alleged remarks in support of white nationalism by Republican Iowa Rep. Steve King, the outlet made sure to note the Republican affiliation in both the headline and first paragraph after he had similarly been stripped by leadership of committee assignments.

NBC News, in reporting on a racist remark against Hispanics by a white Republican member of Congress in 2013 — Alaska Rep. Don Young — noted his party affiliation in the sub-headline of the piece, as well as the first line of the broadcast report.

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One final example, from only three weeks ago, was an article from NPR that highlighted in the headline and first paragraph the Republican affiliation of a Virginia state senator who had reportedly edited a yearbook in 1968 that included pictures of people in blackface.

Mind you, the Republican himself was not accused of posing in blackface, but was merely connected to a yearbook that contained such pictures.

All six of these stories involve politicians and racism, three of which involve Democrats and three of which involved Republicans.

It isn’t difficult to see in comparisons of these examples how the media gloss over the Democratic affiliation of a politician embroiled in scandalous racism, while immediately and repeatedly highlighting the party affiliation of Republicans engaged in similar racism-related scandals.

Furthermore, the articles about Democrats tend to downplay or soft-pedal the alleged misdeeds or accusations against them, while in the case of Republicans, allegations are reported as confirmed facts and driven home repeatedly throughout an article.

This is just a small sampling of what we on the right are talking about when we lodge complaints against media bias, not because we don’t like bad or scandalous news to be reported about Republicans, but simply because we would appreciate the media providing equal and appropriate coverage to such stories regardless of whether the person is a Republican or Democrat.

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Ben Marquis is a writer who identifies as a constitutional conservative/libertarian. He has written about current events and politics for The Western Journal since 2014. His focus is on protecting the First and Second Amendments.
Ben Marquis has written on current events and politics for The Western Journal since 2014. He reads voraciously and writes about the news of the day from a conservative-libertarian perspective. He is an advocate for a more constitutional government and a staunch defender of the Second Amendment, which protects the rest of our natural rights. He lives in Little Rock, Arkansas, with the love of his life as well as four dogs and four cats.
Birthplace
Louisiana
Nationality
American
Education
The School of Life
Location
Little Rock, Arkansas
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Politics




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