by Shaun Kenney
The Richmond Times-Dispatch was given a clip of David Owen — Republican candidate for House of Delegates — where he tells an audience of like-minded souls that he is, indeed, pro-life.
Charlotte Rene Woods over at the RTD decides to do the work of Democratic campaign operatives in what could only be viewed as an in-kind donation.
… and did we mention that this video was taken five months ago, in March?
So, for the sin of stating that he values life and is willing to protect the basic human right to exist, what does this earn Owen? A blistering TMZ-style article where such an admission is caged as if Owen had gone on a drunken tirade motivated by the Dead Milkmen rather than any sort of gravitas.
Yes — the article is that bad:
A video obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch shows David Owen, the GOP candidate in a competitive race to represent a Henrico district in the House of Delegates, calling himself “pro-life.”
And that’s it.
That’s literally it.
“For us to think that it will never get to the point — with the current makeup we have now — of outlawing abortion, I don’t think we’ll get there,” Owen said in the video. “And personally, I am pro-life, and we need to start saving some of the unborn children.”
Does anyone disagree with this? Name me one policy analyst who thinks that this is an untrue statement?
Meanwhile, the abortion position of Virginia Democrats — 40 weeks and potentially beyond — is neatly swept away:
With Democrats in the Senate referring to themselves as a “brick wall,” flipping that chamber could allow Republicans to enact further abortion restrictions. For anything to become law, it needs to pass both chambers and receive the governor’s signature.
So much for journalistic integrity over at the RTD.
Not only did the reporter believe that this story was newsworthy, not only did her editors, not only did her publisher believe this was newsworthy … but they styled a TMZ-style fire-and-forget article, which clearly played into the hands of the Democratic opposition without a single question fielded back — Why now? Why March? Who cares? What is the Democratic position? How much is Planned Parenthood donating to Democratic races and candidates? How’d you get the video? Why now, Charlotte? Little wonder Virginians simply cannot and do not trust the legacy media.
Thus perishes the legacy of Douglas Southall Freeman and Virginius Dabney. The only saving grace is that fewer and fewer people read much less trust the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
After all, why would they when TMZ-style screeds prevail over journalistic integrity? How does this serve the common good? To what possible end is this news other than to belt-feed ammo to a torrent of Democratic slicks and junk mail in October?
Such is the sorry state of affairs.
Republished with permission from The Republican Standard, where Shaun Kenney is the senior editor.
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