25FEB20

The Indiana Gazette had quite a day on Friday, Feb. 21. On the front page there was a headline which read: “Russia again backing Trump’s candidacy, intelligence officials say.” The “again” suggests Russians did this in Trump’s 2016 campaign, an assertion disproved by the Mueller Report.

The Associated Press article nowhere shows that any intelligence officials said anything about Russia backing Trump’s current candidacy. It states that the source of the information upon which the article is based came from, “three officials familiar with the closed-door briefing,” and that these “officials” are anonymous — just like the whistleblower who started the impeachment process.

The article does not state that these anonymous “officials” are intelligence officials or even government officials. They could be anyone — even “officials” of the Democrat party. The article cites the “officials’” credentials for commenting on what went on in the closed-door briefing by asserting they were “familiar” with the briefing. Quite a credential. I suppose I would qualify as credible source as to what went on in that briefing because I am also “familiar” with it, having read about it taking place.

The heading of the Gazette article is a false statement. No intelligence officials said anything about the Russians backing Trump’s current campaign and there is no basis for the so-called “officials” to have any credible standing to comment on what went on in the closed-door briefing. Such an article is well below minimum standards for professional journalism.

The second unfortunate offering in that edition was the political cartoon selected for the opinion page. It shows two lines for Trusted Travelers at an airport. The line marked “Blue States” depicts the people in line as well-dressed, dignified, orderly, with erect posture.

The other line, obviously for people from “Red States,” shows an overweight man, wearing a worn-out ball cap, short sleeve ill-fitting shirt, baggy shorts, tennis shoes, carrying an oversized beverage — clearly depicting an uncultured slob.

The cartoon is an example of the left’s blatant, class bigotry toward conservatives and Trump supporters, similar to the case of the leftwing reporter telling his colleagues that in the South, he could smell Trump supporters at a Walmart he visited.

The Gazette should be ashamed for choosing to include such a bigoted display in their pages. It begs the question of why a Conservative would want to read The Indiana Gazette.

Dr. Terry Ray

Indiana