The Briefing Room
General Category => National/Breaking News => Topic started by: mountaineer on May 04, 2017, 11:48:07 am
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St. Louis Riverfront Times
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
After Post-Dispatch Suspends Conservative Columnist Stacy Washington, She Quits April 26 was a rough day for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's editorial page, and particularly so for the page's director, Tod Robberson. His own column, about protesting, was seriously flawed on multiple levels (http://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2017/05/01/the-post-dispatch-accused-protesters-of-causing-an-immigrants-murder-wrong?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=articleblog&utm_campaign=rightrail&utm_content=TabbedPopularity) and drew rebuke from a St. Louis state representative. But that same day, the editorial page's lone local conservative voice, Stacy Washington, submitted her final column. She just didn't know it at the time.
Ironically, Washington's column, "Guns and the media (http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/stacy-washington-guns-and-the-media/article_c7f2c8c3-9ceb-5886-ab75-f66c84ff7148.html)," took aim at the low representation of conservative journalists in U.S. newsrooms. It also took on a St. Louis American column (http://www.stlamerican.com/news/columnists/guest_columnists/if-we-loved-our-children-as-much-as-our-guns/article_210b3fdc-1ebf-11e7-a7a2-4bbeaa0c359b.html) advocating gun control and a Mizzou professor invoking ISIS in his criticism of the NRA (http://www.columbiamissourian.com/opinion/local_columnists/george-kennedy-the-nra-s-influence-is-a-danger-to/article_f4c9ec02-252b-11e7-95d9-d73112895e9c.html).
"It’s understandable that we seek out opinions and news that support our viewpoint," Washington wrote in the column, which was published April 28. "Confirmation bias is a very real part of how people consume news and media. However, we should be appalled to see neighbors with whom we work, attend church, people who have children defending this country through military service — in other words, good decent people — portrayed in the same light as demonic murderers for the simple act of owning a firearm."
Hours after Washington's column ran, she received an email from Robberson. She was being suspended. ...
Rest of story (http://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2017/05/03/after-post-dispatch-suspends-conservative-columnist-stacy-washington-she-quits)
(https://media1.fdncms.com/riverfronttimes/imager/u/blog/5013871/washington02_edit.jpg?cb=1493825752)
Stacy Washington
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What Robberson put in the paper (http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/columns/editor-s-note-stacy-washington-s-column-will-no-longer/article_e5a09ae1-d71a-52ef-945f-00d60e1f24b5.html?mode=comments):
Stacy Washington's column will no longer appear in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Her active promotional activities and professional association with the National Rifle Association represented an unacceptable conflict of interest in her most recent column, which resulted in our suspension of her work. Ms. Washington chose to terminate her contract. Columnists are expected to fully disclose conflicts of interest when writing about topics where such a conflict might arise. We apply this standard regardless of the lobbying or advocacy group being written about in a column.
A few comments from readers:Looks like black conservative women are expected to sit in the back of the "journailsm" bus and not say anything the bosses might disagree with. When the woman is an opinion columnist that is a racist stifling of free speech. Yeah, all views are welcome, as long as they are liberal.
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How dare she not act as they expect? The nerve, the Post wants her to stay true to their ideals, not her own.
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To those on the left←←←←wrong, a conservative black person is the modern equivalent of a runaway slave. Even though slavery was abolished more than a century ago, modern LIbErals think they still own black people, and that they are entitled to the votes and political support thereof. It's no surprise that a corrupt, left←←←←wrong-wing publication would fire a black employee for expressing conservative views; what is suprising is that they would ever hire her in the first place.
The Post-Dispatch has been a liberal rag for years (I last lived in STL 25 years ago, and it was bad enough then). Looks like it's following the lead of other big city left-leaning newspapers, i.e., circling the drain.
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"Confirmation bias is a very real part of how people consume news and media. However, we should be appalled to see neighbors with whom we work, attend church, people who have children defending this country through military service — in other words, good decent people — portrayed in the same light as demonic murderers for the simple act of owning a firearm."
I still think we are living in the Twilight Zone.
Can any rational person suspend a journalist who makes an obvious statement like this?? That all gun owners are not the equivalent of murderers?
Why are newspapers like this even in business any more?
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That's the official position of the left, though - every time there's a shooting, the NRA and all its members (and not the shooter) are to blame. How dare this intelligent young black woman disagree with the dogma?
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Joe Biden: GOP Will 'Put Y'all Back in Chains'
Where is Mr. Black Like Me when you need him?
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That's the official position of the left, though - every time there's a shooting, the NRA and all its members (and not the shooter) are to blame. How dare this intelligent young black woman disagree with the dogma?
Sure enough. Off the proverbial plantation means loss of work.
They don't even pretend to support free speech any more.
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I still think we are living in the Twilight Zone.
Can any rational person suspend a journalist who makes an obvious statement like this?? That all gun owners are not the equivalent of murderers?
What kind of bubble do you need to live in to think that comment is in any way controversial?
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What kind of bubble do you need to live in to think that comment is in any way controversial?
@geronl
I doubt they did it because it was 'controversial'. I'd wager they had a problem with it because it didn't parrot the party line. Guns are evil and therefore gunowners are evil as well. Anything else detracts from the party line.
This is the kind of stuff that went on in Russia. Many of those on the left have said naysayers should be jailed.
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@geronl
I doubt they did it because it was 'controversial'. I'd wager they had a problem with it because it didn't parrot the party line. Guns are evil and therefore gunowners are evil as well. Anything else detracts from the party line.
This is the kind of stuff that went on in Russia. Many of those on the left have said naysayers should be jailed.
it still happens in Russia
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it still happens in Russia
Well its happening again in Russia. It seemed to stop for a while until Putin got really entrenched.
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Columnist who defended NRA quits after being suspended
By Fox News
May 6, 2017 | 12:16am
A conservative columnist who was suspended by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch after she defended the National Rifle Association from comparisons to ISIS fired back with her resignation and a series of targeted tweets.
The newspaper on Friday suspended Stacy Washington after a column entitled “Guns and the Media” disputed an anti-NRA article that argued since more Americans die from guns than from ISIS, the Second Amendment advocacy group is the greater danger.
(https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/p403x403/18221692_1344200942354770_5190516442806396562_n.jpg?oh=bec77f53ca295eeca934c9bb4c746c39&oe=597EFD0B)
Continued: http://nypost.com/2017/05/06/columnist-who-defended-nra-quits-after-being-suspended/
She was on one of the radio gun shows as well; maybe Armed American Radio.
http://armedamericanradio.org/