McClatchy reporter: 'Alarming power grab' of GOP by 'misguided group of extremists' [View all]

[Newsjock]

http://jimromenesko.com/2012/09/28/mcclatchy-reporter-why-readers-are-losing-faith-in-us/

On Thursday, I posted McClatchy Washington bureau chief James Asher’s memo to colleagues in which he says that “the process of journalism leaves a lot of nuance on the cutting room floor. And I suspect a little bit of the truth goes with it as well. … We must work to capture more nuance in our work.”

... Here’s McClatchy national correspondent James Rosen‘s response to the bureau chief.

... Even if we give Romney the benefit of a doubt that I don’t believe he’s entitled to, he’s running for the highest office and most-demanding job on the planet. If he says stupid and thoughtless things about the Chinese or the Russians or the Iranians, will they shrug their shoulders and say, “Gosh, we know Mitt didn’t mean it?”

Romney’s dad was governor of my state when I was a boy, and I loved him. He could mix it up with anyone, from royalty to janitors, he was a real person, and he stood for important things. Mitt has been running for president for six years, and I still don’t know who he is or what he stands for. I would suggest that is why he’s losing ground in polls, not because the anti-Republican crowd is misunderstanding his statements.

I agree with you that a lot of nuance gets lost on the cutting board, and that that is unfortunate. But I think a bigger reason our readers are losing faith in us is that we are less willing to call things by their true names, cut through cant and tell readers what is really going on. One of the important stories of our time that we are missing is how a misguided group of extremists, many of them closet racists like the author of the South Carolina voter ID law I’ve been covering, is trying to take over one of our two major political parties. Romney’s mean-spirited video rant is a cowardly accommodation to that alarming power grab.