A Banner Prediction Comes True
A Banner Prediction Comes True
Concerns about The Baltimore Banner becoming just another pro-Democrat media outlet are all coming true
One of my long-time concerns with the launch of The Baltimore Banner has been the chance for political bias in the newsroom. I’ve written about it more than a few times
And yet, The Baltimore Banner could still wind up making the same journalistic mistakes that the Sun does. It’s still unsure who all is involved in the decision-making beyond Bainum, and we have already seen the political lengths some those who were involved in the Save Our Sun campaign were willing to go. Bainum promised an unbiased newsroom. Let’s hope he sticks to that promise and also gives conservatives an actual spot on the opinion page
Every time that we hear something about The Baltimore Banner, we end up with more questions than answers and more concerns about the credibility and potential biases within the paper. Bainum and company should address these concerns now so that the people can depend upon The Baltimore Banner to serve can trust that their operation is going to provide real news and not merely propaganda.
The real question of all of this is whether or not we can trust the content on The Baltimore Banner. If The Banner continues to stay in bed with a group like KO that masquerades their paid lobbying activities behind the thinnest veneer of “journalism”, is The Banner’s operation going to be run in a similar “pay-to-play” way?
Over and over, Center Maryland has been what we have always known; that they are far from “News Straight Down the Middle”. Let’s hope The Banner doesn’t follow their tainted legacy.
With all of that as a buildup, I was definitely not surprised that The Banner is already blurring the line between journalism and activism.
How else could one describe the piece published on Thursday entitled “I kept my abortion a secret for years, but I'm ready to speak up”. The short version of the story is that the author, Taylor DeVille, legally killed her innocent unborn child via abortion and doesn’t regret it.
Now, if this were just an opinion piece published by a news outlet, I would not take issue with that. Nor would I take issue if the piece was published by a news outlet with an acknowledged point of view. For example, here at The Duckpin you know where we stand on issues. You know that when we write about aborton that The Duckpin is pro-family, pro-science, and pro-life.
But The Baltimore Banner claims to trying to be “committed to delivering trustworthy journalism”. And the piece was not written by somebody with an opinion. It was written by The Baltimore Banner’s Baltimore County government reporter.
And that’s where we start to have a problem. A reporter is using her platform not to report on news, but to become a pro-abortion activist. And that is a complete violation of whatever façade of journalistic integrity that both Taylor DeVille and The Baltimore Banner are trying to put forth.
It was not helped that other Banner reporters chimed in.
When you combine allowing a reporter to use The Banner to cheerlead for particular left-wing causes with the fact that the editorial page consists entirely of left-wing voices with no conservative perspective, what does Banner leadership expect people to think of the outlet and its perceived editorial bias? Why wouldn’t people think it just joins The Sun and Maryland Matters as news outlets with a left-wing slant?
It appears that the concerns that I have had with Stewart Bainum’s operation from day one were completely valid. It’s unfortunate, but it’s starting to look like my concerns about The Baltimore Banner becoming just another pro-Democrat media outlet are all coming true.
abortion is healthcare