Star, Fischer coverage of Dupnik’s statements deplorable

by David Safier

I just went through the Sunday, Monday and Tuesday paper editions of the Star. Sheriff Dupnik receives barely a mention, until today's paper. I've seen him on television everywhere — local stations, networks, even in an interview on Fox. The LA Times ran a story, After shootings, Clarence Dupnik is Arizona's new sheriff in town. AP has a story, Sheriff In Giffords Case Lashes Out About Politics. In the Star until today, any comments by him are buried deep inside other stories.

Until today. Howard Fischer — I'm beginning to wonder if he's getting tired of the grind of political reporting and is hoping to find a job as communications director for some Republican — has an article about reactions to Dupnik's remarks.

Not once in the article do we read any of Dupnik's remarks. What we read are condemnations of Dupnik from Jack Harper, Al Melvin and Trent Humphries. [Note: In the East Valley Trib version of the article, there are a few short Dupnik quotes and paraphrases starting in the 15th paragraph, long after Harper and Melvin had made their points. The Star omitted even those.]

The article begins with Harper making a vicious, partisan statement holding Dupnik partly responsible for the shootings because he didn't post a detail at the event. Fischer is a veteran reporter who has attended countless political events. He knows full well that small gatherings like these rarely if ever have a police presence. Yet Fischer, who could have easily added that comment, remains silent and lets Harper's obviously misleading statement go unchallenged.

Bodfield wrote an article on the same page as Fischer's where she states that, except for Brewer and Kyl, local politicians rarely have a security detail at events. Fischer knows this.

Dupnik is becoming a household name and face across the county among people following this tragedy. Yet the only article the Star sees fit top publish is one with Republicans, who blame Dupnik for partisanship, making clearly partisan attacks.

NOTE: I have to give state Democrats some blame for their lack of defense of Dupnik, which would have given Fischer the possibility of having a Democratic legislator countering the statements by Republicans. As I wrote last night, Democrats have maintained a virtual code of silence about the problem of violence-laden language coming from the Right. Unless I have missed something, there has not been a single public Democratic statement in support or defense of Dupnik for what he has said. That, in my opinion, is deplorable as well.