Minnesota’s Star Tribune Newspaper and Its “gate-keeping Journalism” Excludes Republican and Independent Party Candidates

The success of democracy depends on informed voters. Their information comes mainly from the media. Voters depend on the media to present reasonably fair and balanced pictures of the candidates for public office, their experience, stance on issues, etc. But suppose the media decline to report on particular campaigns? Voters are then inclined to vote for known candidates, the incumbents, and ignore others on the ballot.

Such a situation describes what is happening in the race for Congress in Minnesota's Fifth Congressional District, comprising Minneapolis and its suburbs. The Star Tribune, headquartered in Minneapolis, is the city's only daily commercial newspaper. The local electronic media draw many of their news stories from it.

The filing deadline for political candidates in Minnesota was July 15th. Since then, the Star Tribune has not published a single article about the 5th District Congressional race. It did not report the names of candidates who had filed for this office. Unlike previous years, it did not publish a Voter's Guide for the primary. It did not report the votes received by each candidate in the primary. There were three: DFL incumbent, Keith Ellison; Republican, Barb Davis White; and me, of the Independence Party.

Rep. Ellison has been named and quoted in dozens of Star Tribune articles in the three months following the filing deadline. Barb Davis White and I have been named twice -once before and once after the primary - to the effect that we were running unopposed in our respective party primaries. Both were single-sentence statements of that fact.

Meanwhile, the Star Tribune has given extensive coverage to other Congressional races, notably in the 3rd and 6th District races. Granted, one involves an open seat vacated by Jim Ramstad, and other a seat occupied by Michele Bachmann. The 5th District, in contrast, is considered a safe seat for any DFL candidate running for reelection. I find it interesting, however, that while the Independence Party candidate in the 3rd District has received ample coverage in the Star Tribune; I actually got more votes than he did in the primary. (This information comes from the Minnesota Secretary of State's website, not the Star Tribune.)

The Star Tribune has a reputation of favoring DFL candidates, both in its editorials and news reporting. When I ran in the Independence Party primary for U.S. Senate in 2002, the Star Tribune did not mention me in any of its pre-primary articles. It did not report the primary results even though I finished second with 8,400 votes, or 31% of the total, in a three-person race. When I attempted to place a paid ad, the Star Tribune "legal department" insisted that I change the wording. I did not use crude or insultinglanguage or incite violence. The newspaper simply did not like my political views. I call this "gate keeping journalism": a tendency to decide what candidates and what positions are respectable and to defeat the disfavored candidates and views through silence - withholding the oxygen of information that voters need to cast intelligent votes.

For decades now, the Star Tribune has been a prime practitioner of this art. In my view, this newspaper has aspired to shape the political news as well as report it. And, with a paid circulation of a half-million readers on Sunday, it has largely succeeded. The Star Tribune and its editors - like some political parties, need a good "house-cleaning!"