KVOA, the NBC television
affiliate in Tucson, boasts on its Web site that we're reading
"Balanced News You Can Count On." That may be true. What's
indisputable is, in at least in one instance, it doesn't provide all the news.
Today's case in point is the story, "Congressman's son caught smuggling immigrants," which begins:
TUCSON, AZ - The son of a U.S. Congressman from was
arrested in Willcox Sunday, charged with human smuggling. According to
court documents John F. Boyd son of Florida Congressman Allen Boyd,
attempted to drive through a Border Patrol checkpoint in Willcox on
Sunday with five illegal immigrants, including a 6-year-old girl.
In a statement sent Tuesday, Congressman Allen Boyd said, "On
September 14, 2008, my 30-year-old son, John Boyd, was arrested in
Arizona, and at a preliminary hearing yesterday, he was charged with
alien smuggling."
"This is a family matter that my family and I will be dealing with
privately. John is a grown man and must face the consequences for his
actions, but he has the love and support of his family," says the elder
Boyd.
OK, we know who the alleged perpetrator is, what he did, and that
his father is a member of Congress. What we aren't told in the
7-paragraph piece is whether the congressman is a Democrat or a
Republican.
Whenever party affiliation in such stories is left out, it's a
no-brainer. Just as we know with certainty that Barack Obama doesn't
leave home without his teleprompter, we realize that negative stories
not identifying party ID invariably means a Democrat is involved.
Yes, it's a small matter, just another day in the mainstream media.
But so very typical of the modus operandi that it's worthy of passing
notice.