Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The editors of the Arizona Daily Star really like Jan Brewer. They want to support her, but her trainwreck of a debate makes it uncomfortable right now.
But that does not stop them from editing news reports by Howard Fischer to soften the blows to Jan Brewer. The "firewall" you often hear about between the news side of a newspaper and the editorial page of the newspaper does not exist at the Arizona Daily Star. Editorializing weaves it way into news content as well. Even the advertising department can determine news content.
As you have heard by now, Jan Brewer told Capitol Media Services Thursday she has no intention of participating in any more events with Democrat Terry Goddard. In fact, she said the only reason she debated him on Wednesday is that was a condition of her taking more than $1.7 million in public funds for her campaign. Brewer refuses to debate Goddard again in gubernatorial race – East Valley Tribune:
"I certainly will take my message in a different venue out to the people of Arizona," she said.
In other words, be prepared for an onslaught of negative attack ads from now to November. That's how Jan Brewer rolls. Civil discourse to inform the voters be damned.
This is where creative editing at the Arizona Daily Star becomes glaringly apparent. Here is Howard Fischer's original reporting. Brewer refuses to debate Goddard again in gubernatorial race – East Valley Tribune:
Brewer blamed part of her post-debate activities on her gaffe in her opening statement. The governor also said she presumed reporters would want to talk to her about some of the issues raised during the hour-long televised debate.
"All you guys were doing and talking were beheadings, beheadings, beheadings," the governor said.
"That is something that has stuck with you all for so long. And I just felt we needed to move on."
But the subject arose because Brewer herself, during the debate, said the unions that support Goddard are to blame for financial fallout over the issue of illegal immigration. She said Goddard should disavow union support because they have called for boycotts of the state.
Goddard responded that any hesitation some people may have about coming to Arizona is because Brewer herself has scared off tourists with comments on TV that headless bodies are being found in the desert.
Medical examiners in Arizona have said they have found no such corpses, though there have been multiple reports of beheadings in Mexico. But Brewer chose to ignore questions about headless bodies. And when no other subjects came up, she walked off.
"I guess it's because of the way that it's always addressed to me as so aggressive coming from the media," the governor said. "All of a sudden, I get defensive."
Anyway, Brewer insisted she has been misquoted.
"I never said ‘Arizona,'" Brewer said, regarding beheadings in the desert. "And it's unfortunate that it was construed as ‘Arizona.' And I'm sorry if people thought that I said it was in Arizona."
The record, however, shows otherwise.
"Our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert, either buried or just lying out there, that have been beheaded," Brewer said in a June appearance on Sunday Square Off on KPNX-TV 12 in Phoenix. And the governor said "there are people all over Arizona living in fear."
On Thursday, though, Brewer said she was referring to what is happening south of the border.
"And I am concerned about the spillover regarding the drug cartels and their activities," she said.
Here is how the Arizona Daily Star softened the blows to Brewer and inserted their own bogus jab to Terry Goddard. Brewer: No more debates – period:
Brewer blamed part of her post-debate activities on her gaffe in her opening statement. The governor also said she presumed reporters would want to talk to her about some of the issues raised during the hour-long, televised debate.
"All you guys were doing and talking were beheadings, beheadings, beheadings," the governor said. "That is something that has stuck with you all for so long, and I just felt we needed to move on."
The subject came up during an exchange in which Brewer said unions are to blame for financial fallout over illegal immigration, calling on Goddard to disavow unions' support because they have called for boycotts of the state.
Goddard responded that it is actually Brewer scaring off tourists with comments about headless bodies being found in the desert, for which there is no supporting evidence.
Brewer insisted later that she has been misquoted. "I never said 'Arizona,' and it's unfortunate that it was construed as 'Arizona.' "
So, for the editors of the Arizona Daily Star, Jan Brewer was simply "misquoted" and "misconstrued," deleting Howard Fischer's clear case against Brewer that she is "misrepresenting" what she said, i.e., lying, a serious character flaw.
The editors of the Arizona Daily Star also inserted an editorial comment to Terry Goddard's statement that Howard Fischer did not write: "for which there is no supporting evidence."
See how the editors try to turn Brewer's unsubstantiated allegation into Terry Goddard's unsubstantiated allegation? That is some editorial jujitsu to support their favored candidate. The editors inserted something Howard Fischer never wrote nor intended. Howie, you should be pissed! Let's sue the bastards!
The editors are lying on behalf of Brewer. As was widely reported at the time – probably not in the Arizona Daily Star – the Arizona Tourism industry was highly critical of Jan Brewer's false claims of headless corpses in the deserts of Arizona. Brewer paints unattractive picture of Arizona for tourism industry | Fox 11:
The threat of the boycott aside, much has also been made of comments the governor made recently about body parts being found in the desert, "Well I believe there has been findings of body parts in the desert. And certainly we know that in Mexico there have been beheadings."
Tourism officials acknowledge that's not the most positive image the governor could paint of Arizona, "We have been in communication with the governor's office. They've been very understanding of our issues about communicating from a visitor point of view and they're communicating from a political point of view, and so we're just trying to merge those two together."
I have said many times before it is sad that a once-great newspaper is being destroyed by the current ownership and editors of the Arizona Daily Star. What they are doing is contemptible.