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I’d Like to Poison Your Mind With Wrong Ideas that Appeal to You, Though I am Not Unkind.
By Jeff Fecke | May 9, 2007
So I’ll have much more on L’affaire Aplikowski later today, but I’m still left wondering how “I know! I’ll lie in an interview and say racist and incendiary things, and then Jeff Fecke will print them in Minnesota Monitor, and that’ll show him!” makes me look bad.
I’m also left wondering who the “proper GOP leaders” Aplikowski notified were. As far as I can tell, Andy Aplikowski is saying that the Republican Party of Minnesota authorized him to lie to the newsmedia to prove–well, something. I didn’t know the GOP of Minnesota was in the habit of authorizing its district chairs to freely lie to people, but it’s probably good to know.
Again, more on that later. For now, I’m just left shaking my head sadly. I actually wanted to write an article that was fair to Aplikowski and the GOP, one that was not a hatchet job, but simply presented his point of view. And I did that. I regret that I did not expect him to lie in the interview, but we rarely think ill of those lied to. Generally, it’s the liar who looks the worst.
Topics: Blog Navel-Gazing, MN GOP, Minnesota Monitor | 6 Comments »
May 9th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
“…the newsmedia…”
Again….you are a Commentator, not a reporter.
May 9th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
Depends. Here I’m a commentator. At MinMon, I’m a hybrid. This story I was writing up as straight news–and that is indeed what I wrote.
Interesting that someone decrying me as being misanthropic would split hairs over my exact job description….
May 9th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
“At MinMon, I’m a hybrid.”
I would say it is still commentary there too….I am yet to read any “news” from that site.
And I didn’t “decry” you as anything, just saying you are a commentator, not a reporter.
May 9th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
[...] And apparently they actually take themselves seriously. As when some runs an obvious prank by them, they trip all over themselves to use it to smear the GOP but then cry foul when they are made to look the fool as a result. Jeff “fecal” Fecke is now crying he was “lied” to. Look Mr. “Reporter”, did you follow up on anything? Did you do any sort of research? Check any of it for consistency? You know, things a reporter would have done. [...]
May 10th, 2007 at 11:58 am
You can’t jump back and forth from commentary to news, everyone is left to assume that everything is commentary. I’d also say that it’s not possible to start as a commentator and then decide to do straight news reporting. Your biases are out there for all to see so your stories will always be viewed in that light.
I have been interviewed by real reporters and I can assure you that your sloppy work is to blame for this mess. Look at this as part of your informal training.
May 11th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
The particular interview with Aplikowski was news – not commentary. Jeff left out the most incendiary parts of Andy’s interview – so he didn’t do a hatchet job. After getting challenged by me, he posted the full text of the interview on the blog.
I’m curious whether Tracy has the same trouble with Doug Tice being political editor at the Strib.
I have also been interviewed by reporters at the Strib in the past. Jeff didn’t do anything wrong on this story.
Here’s my question – why are there no right wing bloggers – beyond Drew Emmer, who have publicly condemned Andy Aplikowski’s interview?