California Conservative

So, does media bias exist? It depends on what story you read.

As an “embedded blogger” reporting on Schwarzenegger’s speech at the CRP convention, SactoDan is astounded to read that the Sac Bee saw the same show but tells the story a lot differently.

“My jaw dropped open after reading Laura Mecoy’s article in the Sacramento Bee about the Governor’s speech yesterday at the State CRP Convention. I sat in the same press box she sat in, and at the next table in the press room while she wrote the story.

While it was big news that the Governor endorsed Proposition 75, the Paycheck Protection initiative, that was not the centerpiece of the speech.

The Governor’s speech was about reforming and rebuilding California. He layed out his accomplishments, his plans for the special election and his reelection campaign.

Reading the article you’d think the most of the speech was about Prop 75. The article spends as much time on opposing quotes as it does on the speech. If that is designed to make the article balanced, it fails. The event WAS the Governor’s Speech. Why not capture the flavor of the speech and the agenda it lays out, and quote reactions and rebuttals to that?“

A very good question. Flap has more thoughts on the differences between traditional media and bloggers.

But the Sac Bee isn’t the only MSM focusing on Prop 75.

AP reports: “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger endorsed a ballot measure requiring public employee unions to get written permission before using member dues money for political purposes.”

You can just hear Democrats and the Big Union political machine getting into high gear over this one.

“Democrats viewed the endorsement Saturday at the state Republican Party convention as an attack because Democratic political candidates are the principal beneficiaries of labor union contributions.”

Go figure.

“The measure, dubbed “Paycheck Protection,” will appear on the ballot as Proposition 75. It was funded by advisers to Schwarzenegger but had not previously been part of his “year of reform” agenda.

“Public employee union members should not be forced to contribute to causes, candidates and controversial issues that they don’t believe in,” Schwarzenegger said. “That isn’t a contribution, it’s a tax.”

Exactly.

“The fact is that the employee union bosses have simply too much power over the budget, too much power over their members’ paycheck and too much power over our state,” Schwarzenegger said, drawing loud applause.

And that’s why they’ll do anything to stop Arnold, starting with misleading the electorate.

Reuters offers more:

“We, the firefighters, teachers, nurses, police have worked to protect our communities, schools, and health care from the governor and his bad ideas,” he said in a statement. “Prop. 75 was designed and financed by the governor’s political team and corporate special interests to silence our voices and make it easier for him and his big business pals to harm education, health care and public safety.”

Perfect example of the deception. Namely, no one is stopping the ability to make personal contributions. That’s real grassroots support.

The obvious problem with unions hijacking their member dues for partisan political support is that not every member shares in the same “voice.” And the unions don’t even offer members the ability to opt-out. Thus, it is, indeed, a form of taxation — without representation.

See Angels In The Mist for more.

Straight from the source: Arnold on Prop. 75 here.

UPDATE: 9/19
SactoDan has a post-convention wrap-up with pics

RELATED:
California Republican Party: Fall 2005 Convention
(Day Two)
California Republican Party: Fall 2005 Convention
(Day One)

What Unions Are Costing California
Why Can’t California Reform Education?
What Unions Are Teaching Us
Arnold: Live to Fight Another Day
Unions - 1, Arnold - 0

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 18th, 2005 at 11:42 am and is filed under Arnold, Blogging, California, Election 2008, Media, Orange County. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.