The Most Biased Television News Report You’ll See All Day
Courtesy of KVRR News Director Jim Shaw. I’ve been covering Shaw’s reporting on the North Dakota Workforce Safety & Insurance issue for some time now (previous posts here, here, here and here) and pointing out all the problems with his reporting, but this latest segment is the worst bit of “journalism” I’ve seen in a long, long time.
Here’s the video clip. Keep in mind that this didn’t air on the Reiten Broadcasting stations (KXMB, KXMC, etc.) as the other segments did for some reason, but did apparently air on KVRR out of Fargo.
Here are some problems I see with the clip:
- The anchors start with a statement about how it appears as though WSI is working against workers. This is a rather serious charge to make and one that is not at all backed up by the reporting to follow. It also echoes Shaw’s call to WSI where he asked the agency to comment on how they’re “screwing injured workers.” Clearly, these people started with a preconceived notion (WSI is screwing people) and shaped their story to fit that.
- Notice the awkward way the inured worker uses her crutches. Unlike most people who keep their injured foot off the ground while using crutches (which is sort of the point of crutches) she continues to put weight on it wincing each time she does so.
- Notice how the injured worker is portrayed as crawling on the ground even as she drags her crutches with her. This has got to be staged. I’ve seen people with no foot, heck people with no leg, who aren’t reduced to crawling on the ground. Yet this woman does so while her husband, family and undoubtedly Jim Shaw and his camera crew stand around and watch her. Is this an accurate representation of how she gets around or a bit of theater meant to paint her as a hapless victim and WSI as a bunch of evil meanies?
- The narrator for story (Shaw again) states that the injured worker’s family had no Christmas presents this year, as though this were WSI’s fault.
- When the segment turns to the injured worker’s lawyer we’re once again confronted with Democrat Insurance Commissioner candidate Jasper Schnedier’s uncle, Mark Schnedier. The fact that he is Jasper’s uncle, once again, isn’t disclosed despite the fact that Jasper’s #1 issue this campaign season is WSI.
- Mark Schneider tells us that his client’s claim was denied on a “pretext,” yet neither Schneider nor Shaw tell us what that pretext is. Further, at the end of the piece the female anchor tells us that WSI “refused to comment” on the story. Is that true? We know for sure that Shaw didn’t ask the other injured worker he interviewed for this series (Douglas Brown) to sign a release so that WSI could legally comment on his claim, so it’s safe to assume that Shaw didn’t ask this injured worker for a release either. Meaning that it wasn’t WSI refusing to comment so much as it was that WSI couldn’t comment.
- Schneider tells us that he wouldn’t “treat al Qaeda” the way his clients have been treated. What an over-the-top and totally uncalled for comment that is. Criticizing WSI is one thing. Comparing WSI’s treatment of injured workers to the treatment of terrorists is quite another. Clearly, this guy isn’t in his right mind.
Removing all partisan issues from the equation, I think the only conclusion any honest observer of this segment can reach is that it is horribly, horribly biased. Parts of it were pretty obviously staged. It was essentially political propaganda given that a statewide Democrat candidate’s relative is put on to demagogue that candidate’s number one issue with no disclosure of the relationship between the two. And, ultimately, WSI was afforded no opportunity to explain why this woman’s claim had been denied.
This isn’t journalism, it’s a hatchet piece. Jim Shaw should be ashamed of himself, as should the folks at KVRR who aired it.
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