Iowa media – and Democrats – need to fix this problem
A huge missed opportunity
With all the important national news stories in recent weeks – the debt ceiling showdown, the Trump indictments – an unhealthy trend has developed in local media. Iowa Democrats, as well as local news outlets, need to address it.
The problem is the nearly complete lock that Iowa Republicans have on reacting to these news stories. It’s an outgrowth of the almost complete lock that Iowa Republicans have on every major political office. Every member of the Iowa delegation to Congress is a Republican. Every statewide office holder is a Republican, except for state auditor Rob Sand, who’s a Democrat.
It’s understandable that when reporters look for credible sources to quote for reaction, they will naturally go to office holders. But when ALL the reaction is from one side, it leaves Iowans with the impression that the entire state is upset about the debt ceiling compromise, or that every Iowan thinks the Justice Department has unfairly targeted Trump.
One-sided debt ceiling reaction
For example, when Congress voted in early June on the debt ceiling compromise, every member of the Iowa delegation in the U.S. House and Senate voted in FAVOR of the plan. But a story in the Des Moines Register on June 1 gave all six Iowa Republicans in DC the opportunity to tee off on President Biden.
Here’s Representative Randy Feenstra: ”The next step is firing Joe Biden and electing fiscal conservative majorities to Congress who are serious about getting America’s fiscal house in order.”
Senator Joni Ernst, who again, voted FOR the plan, is allowed to lob this political grenade: “For heaven’s sake, people, if you want a different outcome let’s make sure we flip the Senate and that we do get the White House. Then we can move ahead with very ambitious goals.”
The story quotes SIX Iowa Republicans and not one Iowa Democrat. Yes, there aren’t any Iowa Democrats in Congress, but quoting six Iowans from one political viewpoint leaves the reader with the impression that nobody actually favored this compromise – that the Republicans were forced to support it to avoid an economic calamity.
Trump indicted
Another example came this week with the indictment and arrest of Donald Trump. On KCCI-TV’s morning newscast Thursday, Senator Charles Grassley is quoted as “questioning the motive behind the investigation” and uses as an example Hillary Clinton’s personal email account. Grassley then says in a sound bite, “There should be equal treatment of the law, but you see Hillary was handled one way, President Trump another way. I’m hearing from Iowans they don’t like the unequal application of the law.” The anchor then quotes US Representative Ashley Hinson and Governor Kim Reynolds as “questioning the motive behind the investigation.” Democratic reaction? None.
I’m confident there are Iowa Democrats out there who could point out important differences between the Clinton emails and Trump documents cases. There are likely Iowans who think it was Trump who politicized the Justice Department and that President Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland have done everything possible to keep hands off the special counsel’s investigation.
But where are they, and who are they? State Auditor Rob Sand is not the guy who should be responding to all this stuff. It’s not his job. So it’s incumbent on Iowa Democrats to figure out a media strategy and appoint someone who is available and willing to give the Democrats’ viewpoint. State Democratic party chair Rita Hart is a possibility. A better idea is to identify a Democrat currently in the legislature who is considering running for Congress next year. Give that person the opportunity to weigh in and get a leg up on next year’s campaign, point out where the incumbent Republican is wrong, and provide some balance. Make sure reporters know how to contact that person for reaction. It’s a huge missed opportunity unless Democrats immediately fix this.
Iowa media needs to step up, too. It’s not acceptable to provide stories with six Iowans from one political viewpoint and none from the other side. It’s just lazy. I understand it’s easy to go to the Twitter page of a Republican member of Iowa’s delegation and strip out a quote. But reporters need to work harder to provide balance.
Otherwise, the impression left with readers and viewers is that every Iowan thinks the debt ceiling agreement was Biden’s fault and that Trump is getting a raw deal. I assure you there are hundreds of thousands of Iowans who do not agree. They deserve a voice.
Welcome to Dave Price, a new member of the Iowa Writer’s Collaborative. Dave was a longtime political reporter for WHO-TV in Des Moines. In addition to his experience, he and I are proud graduates of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fans, which is not much fun this season.
Check out the other writers in the collaborative:
Three more excellent examples of the problem in this morning’s Register. Stories on pages A3, A4 and A5 quote Grassley, Ernst, Reynolds, Tim Scott and Vivek Ramaswamy as questioning the fairness of prosecuting Trump. Not one Democrat quoted anywhere. Political coverage in Iowa over the coming months is going to naturally lean Republican anyway because of the flood of GOP presidential candidates. That makes it even more imperative that Iowa Democrats address this issue.
Holy cow! This is so eye-opening. And I, too, am tired of reporting that simply strips social media quotes. Which is why we need to support voices who dig deeper. Like you!