Former Vice President Joe Biden is catching hell from his 2020 Democratic primary opponents this week for claiming he had civil working relationships with pro-segregation Dixiecrats when he served in the U.S. Senate.
But perhaps as interesting as the sniping over the 2020 front-runner’s remarks is the fact that several journalists managed to omit from their reporting the fact that the segregationists touted by Biden were also members of the Democratic Party. It is just an oversight, I’m sure.
The most egregious example of reporters forgetting to mention that the late Sens. James Eastland, D-Miss., and Herman Talmadge, D-Ga., belonged to Biden’s party comes from a New York Times article titled, “Joe Biden and Democratic Rivals Exchange Attacks Over His Remarks on Segregationists.”
The report carries four bylines, including those of Katie Glueck, Astead Herndon, Glenn Thrush, and Alexander Burns. A Times staffer named Alain Delaqueriere also contributed to research for the story. For all that manpower, there is not a single mention of Talmadge’s and Eastland’s party affiliation throughout the entire article.
It would be one thing were the omission of party affiliation and political ideology consistent throughout the report. But it is not.
The authors characterize Eastland and Talmadge as “conservative” and “conservatives.” The article identifies the late Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., as an “arch-conservative.” The article identifies the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., as a Republican. It also identifies former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., as a Republican. The Times reporters are also careful to identify the late Sen. Strom Thurmond as “a South Carolina Republican with a history of racist views.” The body of the story mentions the word “Democrats” twice, and it uses the word “democratic” 12 times (15 if you include the headline and photo captions). Yet there are zero mentions whatsoever of the party that Eastland and Talmadge called home.
So strange!
Now, to be fair to Glueck, one of the story’s chief authors, she is responsible for a separate Times article, titled “Biden, Recalling ‘Civility’ in Senate, Invokes Two Segregationist Senators,” that is careful to note that the two touted segregationists were, in fact, members of the Democratic Party.
Over at the Associated Press, it was more of the same. AP reporters Bill Barrow and Elana Schore authored an article Wednesday titled, “Biden not apologizing for remarks on segregationist senators.”
Their report mentions “Democrats” three times, “democratic” five times, and “Republican” once. The report originally made zero mention of the fact that Eastland and Talmadge were both Democratic lawmakers. The AP also published a wire “update” Wednesday that similarly made no mention that Eastland and Talmadge were Democrats.
The AP published a heavily amended version of Barrow’s and Schore’s original report Thursday noting the segregationists’ party affiliation. The wire “update,” however, has not been amended.
At the Washington Post, things have been hit-or-miss. This article, for example, is careful to mention Eastland’s and Talmadge’s party affiliation, as is this article (though the latter does not say anything about the party to which Talmadge belonged). In contrast, neither this Post article nor this article says anything about party membership.
ABC News has been similarly inconsistent, as it published at least one article mentioning their affiliation, but two others that do not.
Lastly, MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt took things a step further Wednesday afternoon when she misidentified both Eastland and Talmadge as Republican senators. Hunt corrected herself almost immediately on social media.
That said, it has not all been bad. Many newsrooms, including USA Today, National Public Radio, the Wall Street Journal, Vox, CNN (also, here, here, here, and here), NBC News, and CBS News, have been careful to identify Eastland and Talmadge as Democrats.
