World-Herald Crosses the Line Between Reporting & Free Republican Advertising

After running its profile on First District Congressional challenger Maxine Moul yesterday, the Omaha World-Herald today ran its profile of first-term incumbent Congressman Jeff Fortenberry. Both are nice articles portraying the candidates in a generally positive light. However, in its introduction of Fortenberry, the World-Herald crosses a line in its reporting, adopting language more suited to a campaign advertisement than a supposedly objective profile of the candidate.

My gripe is with the reporter's description of Fortenberry as "family- and faith-focused." While most voters would agree these are positive attibutes, a newspaper using such terms to describe a candidate for political office is quite absurd because they create a false impression that Fortenberry is somehow more concerned with family and morality than Moul, despite this very focus being a hallmark of her campaign that serves as the central theme of her first TV advertisement.

Of course, this shouldn't surprise. The deceitful distinction seen here has been advanced for years to the detriment of Democratic candidates, with no basis in truth or the issues.

I'll belabor the point no further, but it is sad to see the World-Herald allow this partisan posturing into its pages under the guise of fact. Its reporters and the newspaper itself should know better and be more responsible in what they print.