IOKIYAR as an editorial standard

On Saturday, both the Arizona Democratic Party and the Arizona Republican Party held meetings of their respective state committees in Phoenix. As such gatherings are wont to be, both were exercises in energizing party activists as well as allowing candidates to "meet and greet" activists and to recruit supporters for their campaigns.

Very rarely does one see substantive policy initiatives trotted out in these conditions. That's just not their raison d'etre.

Apparently, however, the editors at the Arizona Capitol Times, a publication almost exclusively devoted to covering politics in Arizona, are unfamiliar with this dynamic.

After the Democratic meeting, they published an article with the following lede (subscription login required) -

Terry Goddard didn’t produce any solutions for the problems facing the state, but he had a lot of harsh words for Gov. Jan Brewer and the Republican legislative leaders.

On the other hand, while criticizing Terry Goddard, the current Attorney General, for not announcing ways to fix the budget mess in Arizona while at a non-policy event, they had no such criticism for the Republicans who also didn't promulgate any new policies at their party meeting, instead focusing on campaigns against one of their own and blaming "Sinema Democrats" for the budget mess that the Republicans in legislature have enthusiastically crafted, with the complicity of their governor.

I've got no problem with criticisms of Democratic candidates when such criticisms are deserved.

And yes, Terry Goddard will eventually have to present a plan for addressing Arizona's needs.

However, Saturday afternoon wasn't "eventually" and holding Democrats to higher standards than they hold Republicans to doesn't exactly enhance the credibility of AZ Capitol Times, something they should consider in this time of plummeting newspaper circulations.


BTW - So will somebody tell me how having "It's OK If You're A Republican" as an editorial standard is evidence of that nearly-mythical "liberal bias" in the media? Or even evidence of professional journalism in the media?

Anybody?