J.D. Prose – 2/24/13

This page was last updated on February 26, 2013.

Corbett’s re-election chances on orange alert!; J.D. Prose; Beaver County Times; February 24, 2013.

According to his Twitter page, Mr. Prose is a self-described “Surly progressive.” As you read this opinion column and his Twitter “tweets,” keep in mind Mr. Prose wears at least one other hat for the BCT. In addition to being an entertainer/pundit, Mr. Prose is a part-time 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? (You may recall NPR claimed it fired Juan Williams for doing exactly what Mr. Prose does.) 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.

You can find the archive of my Prose column critiques here.

Below is a critique of portions of this column.

“KNOCK, KNOCK

“South Heights Councilman and loyal Democrat Bob Schmetzer said he and some friends wanted to visit freshman GOP U.S. Rep. Keith Rothfus’ Beaver office so they drove to the Insurance Street building during working hours.”

[RWC] Even in a purely political article we have another example of the BCT choosing to omit most of Mr. Schmetzer’s political affiliations. You may recall less than a week ago the BCT also failed to note the Schmetzer associations in what was supposed to be a news story.

“Alas, the door was locked, the office was dark and, Schmetzer said, building neighbors told the group that Rothfus’ crew hasn’t moved in yet, even though the address and phone number are listed on Keith’s official website.

“‘There’s nobody there,’ said Schmetzer, who added that he called Rothfus’ Ross Township office and received an apology … but no estimate on when the Beaver office might be open for business.”

[RWC] All the way from South Heights, Mr. Schmetzer “and some friends” visited Rep. Rothfus’ office without calling ahead? Sure. It might have been interesting to know the identities of Mr. Schmetzer’s “friends” and what the gang wanted to talk about, but that would have required reporting. Mr. Schmetzer seems to have bad luck when he goes to see Mr. Rothfus. No less than Mr. Prose himself reported Mr. Schmetzer and friends also missed Mr. Rothfus back in October when they went to protest at the Rothfus campaign office. It’s funny Mr. Prose didn’t mention that protest here, isn’t it? I wonder if Mr. Schmetzer has Mr. Prose on speed dial.

Given the content of Mr. Schmetzer’s Facebook page and his history, it’s fair to assume Mr. Schmetzer “and some friends” didn’t show up just to say “hi” and drop off a fruit basket.

“We called the Beaver number and it was answered … by a woman in the Ross office, which, apparently, is open. Have a nice drive, Bob.”