Then again...

I owe Meg Kinnard an apology. There is a longer version of the article that presents the information accurately. So the obfuscation appears to have been introduced by whoever chopped the article up for Yahoo.

Article in local paper by Meg Kinnard:

State Rep. Thad Viers, a Republican who represents the Myrtle Beach area, pleaded no contest Thursday to accusations he threatened to beat and sexually assault a man dating his estranged wife.

Viers was fined $500. His lawyer said he was "under the influence of love."
...

Article on Yahoo site by Meg Kinnard:

COLUMBIA, S.C. - A South Carolina lawmaker pleaded no contest Thursday to threatening to beat and sexually assault a man dating his estranged wife. He was fined $500.

State Rep. Thad Viers, 29, left court immediately and declined to comment. The misdemeanor unlawful communication charge carried a maximum sentence of 30 days in jail.
...

The Myrtle Beach Online article leaves no doubt about the political affiliations of those involved. The Yahoo article does (as noted in yesterday's post, the only person in the entire article whose political affiliation is mentioned is the lawyer who represented the defendant). My criticism still stands, it was just misdirected at the author of the piece rather than the anonymous summarizer.

Nice job, whoever chopped and pasted the original article.

Excuse me, your bias is showing

I'm skimming through the headlines at Yahoo news and decided to check out the story, "S.C. lawmaker fined for phone threats." I'm curious because I'm interested in how reporters write about politicians who are in legal troubles (whether or not they bring up their political party, etc.).

Meg Kinnard, the author of the article, doesn't tell us the political affiliation of State Rep. Thad Viers (the man who pled no contest). She does, however, tell us the political affiliation of state Rep. Todd Rutherford who served as Viers lawyer. He's a Democrat. In fact, that's the only political affiliation mentioned in the entire article.

What party does Thad Viers represent? That would be the Republican Party. A fact that Meg Kinnard obscures with her article. She even goes out of her way to leave an inaccurate impression in the readers' minds.

Nice job, Meg.