Recently the Arizona Daily Star announced that it would bow to crank letter-writers from Green Valley and make its editorial pages more “balanced”– in others words, more conservative. The editors announced that they would publish fewer cartoons by brilliant local commentator David Fitzsimmons and more national cartoons, as well as additional syndicated columnists to flesh out their lineup of insufferable right-wingers including Charles Krauthammer and George F. Will.
First of all, despite what retiree letter-writers believe, the Arizona Daily Star hasn’t been the “Red Star” in years. A death knell sounded for the Star a few years ago when they laid off dozens of employees, many of whom were writers. Funny how that happens: fewer reporters = less news. Not long after that, the Star reduced the physical page size; eliminated the metro section; started printing press releases verbatim; initiated front-page ads, advertising stickers, and other annoying advertising gimmicks; and, worst of all, began ignoring real local news (like the Tucson City Council meetings) in favor of feel-good front page stories and wire service fodder.
The editors lost no time in instituting new right wing editorial content. On Thursday the Star ran a John-Kerry-bashing syndicated cartoon, four national editorials (three of which were conservative), and one local editorial about cheesy Facebook surveys. This is balanced?
The Thursday editorial that really raised my ire was: ‘War on women’ now it just a scattershot weapon. In a nutshell, columnist Hanna Rosin claims that the War on Women was fabricated by Democrats who mounted major political ad campaigns featuring a handful of stupid Republicans talking about “legitimate rape” and sluts who want government to bankroll their promiscuous lifestyles. (No mention, of course, of the men who benefit from and encourage those promiscuous lifestyles.)
