J. D. Prose – 10/18/09

This page was last updated on October 22, 2009.

Political Prose: Altmire hears squeaky wheels from Ambridge; J. D. Prose; Beaver County Times; October 22, 2009.

As you read this opinion column, keep in mind Mr. Prose wears at least one other hat for the Times. In addition to being a pundit, Mr. Prose is a reporter covering political stories. Ask yourself this. When a pundit gives his political opinions in one part of the paper, can he be trusted to report politics objectively elsewhere in the paper? After all, would a person whose opinion is 1+1 equals 3 report 1+1 really equals 2? Does he have a “Chinese wall” in his head to keep his opinions from bleeding into his reporting? If it can get worse than that, Mr. Prose has made name-calling and personal attacks a foundation of his columns. If pushed, I’d be willing to bet Mr. Prose would try to excuse his writing by claiming he’s paid to be controversial and stir debate. The problem is, you don’t need to get into name-calling and personal attacks to accomplish those goals.

Rather than subject you to the entire piece, I’ll comment on only several points.

First, as I’ve noted in previous critiques, the use of anonymous sources (“Democratic Source” in this column) is now a staple of Mr. Prose’s work.

Second, references to Fox News Channel (FNC) as “Faux News” by lefties is always humorous. It’s especially funny coming from a pundit who also serves as a “news reporter” for the “12 alive – only 1 trapped miner doesn’t survive ordeal” Times. What happened to the “Chinese wall” we learned existed between the news and opinion sections of newspapers? In any case, other than political philosophy, how does FNC differ from the Times? Both have opinion pieces and both have news pieces. As for editorial policy leaking into so-called news articles, please read my critique of “Crowd gets vocal at town hall meeting on health care.”

Third, referring to FNC as “Faux News” is hardly original, yet Mr. Prose chastises others for not being original. It looks like a bit of “Do as I say, not as I do.” on the part of Mr. Prose.

Fourth, Mr. Prose talks about Neil Cavuto having a “man crush” on Jason Altmire. What about Mr. Prose? Three Prose columns this year have mentioned Glenn Beck, with two of them referring to Mr. Beck as “creepy.” Methinks Mr. Prose doth protest too much. <g>

Fifth, Mr. Prose referred to “Republican-turned-Democrat U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter.” To be more accurate, it’s Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-Democrat U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter.