The Idaho Statesman seems to have fallen in love with Gov. Risch, and is shamelessly promoting him. It’s clear that Risch’s campaign strategy is to use the Gov’s office to generate news, and the Statesman has either fallen for this or is complicit in it.
I went to the Statesman’s website and searched on Risch; it yielded 35 mentions in the last seven days. A similar search for LaRocco returned two mentions, both in articles about Risch. Admittedly many of the Risch mentions are in articles not specifically about him, but he still gets mentioned. He is in eight headlines (in seven days), and mentioned in 27 other articles or letters to the editor (in 7 days)
Some of what the statesman is reporting is legit news. What really got my goat was this article, summarizing all our peripatetic governor’s actions and the stories about him. On a Sunday when they didn’t have anything else to write, the Statesman just published a rehash.
I will give you that a rehash is sometimes worth printing, but during an election campaign such prominent display of Risch’s name and face begins to affect the election and is unfair to LaRocco. It is not sufficient in an article about Risch, under a headine naming Risch, to include a comment from LaRocco. This is not balance. The Statesman should exercise some restraint.
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