Independent Record

When Media Covers Media: That Ol’ Anonymous Source

March 18, 2011

I hope visitors will excuse the wonkery of this post, but on a day when I was lectured about journalistic ethics, I thought this little series of articles illustrates the danger of the media covering the media. When KXLH covered the Planned Parenthood protest of the IR Health Fair, they included this detail from an [...]

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Randy Rickman’s Abortion Record

March 17, 2011

It’s not just Helena that’s had to deal with Randy Rickman using his position as newspaper publisher to impose his views on a community. He did it at his last job, too. In a piece “from the Publisher’s Desk at the Hanford Sentinel, Rickman, citing (and basically paraphrasing) a letter from James Dobson, claimed that [...]

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Helena Independent Record Bans Planned Parenthood from “Health” Fair

March 17, 2011

The Helena Independent Record has, unfortunately, once again put ideology ahead of information. This time, they jeopardized health at the same time. The Independent Record hosted its 5th annual Health Fair today at the Civic Center, but disinvited a critically important local health care provider to meet an ideological agenda. The Independent Record invited Planned [...]

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The Tea Party’s Absolutely Not Racist HUGE Gathering in Helena

February 19, 2011

The Tea Party is gathering in Helena for its first convention, and certainly isn’t embracing any racist ideas: Hedgecock told a story about campaigning and meeting a family of illegal immigrants who said they don’t vote, and surmising that votes were fraudulently cast in their name by others. Former state Rep. Ed Butcher, R-Winifred, echoed [...]

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Health Education: It’s Not Parents Against the Schools

February 15, 2011

Throughout the entire “debate” about health curriculum in Helena during the past year, opponents of the curriculum have tried to frame the debate as one between parents and those evil school administrators and teachers who are determined to corrupt their children. It was smart public relations. By constantly implying that they represented parents, opponents of [...]

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Terrible, Terrible, Terrible Story in the IR About Education Today

February 6, 2011

With the sensationalistic headline “Schools Receive Low Marks,” I expected the Independent Record to present some solid data about low achievement in Helena or Montana schools. The story, and the truth, show the exact opposite: Montana student are doing well. From the piece: In the NAEP test, in which Montana students excelled, each grade was [...]

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Helena IR Publishes the Truth in Response to Will Deschamps, But Why Run the Original?

January 30, 2011

Dave McLean, commander of the Anaconda American Legion Post 21, responded to one of the lies in GOP Chair Wil Deschamps’ recent hit piece about Max Baucus and health care reform today in the Independent Record. The particular lie that McLean debunks is the idea that veterans will see increased taxes on their healthcare costs: [...]

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More on SB 114: Story in the IR

January 22, 2011

There was a much better story about SB 114 in the Independent Record this morning, because it better characterized the nature of the opposition and support for this truly insane bill. While it still didn’t characterize the paranoia demonstrated by proponents, the article laid out the case made my law enforcement and lawyers against Marbut’s [...]

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