The March 17 edition of the West Central Tribune and the Minneapolis Star Tribune is a tale of two newspapers.
The West Central Tribune's headline focused on the ethics of taping a public ministerial meeting in which Sen. Dean Johnson made untruthful statements to his ministerial colleagues. The focus was on the ethics of the recording, not the ethics of the statements Johnson made. Nothing was mentioned about Johnson confessing he "embellished" his statements because he was "frustrated" with the pastors who were questioning him about the marriage amendment.
In contrast, the Star Tribune's headline read, "Majority leader 'embellished' conversation with justice." The focus on this article was on Johnson's admission that he overstated the justices' comments. It also mentioned Chief Justice Russell Anderson's comments denying that any justices made a commitment to Johnson on this matter.
On the Star Tribune's editorial page, the newspaper itself published an editorial titled "Johnson has more apologies to make." In this editorial, it called for Johnson to apologize to his fellow clergy and the thousands of Minnesotans who have heard his words.
How different the two newspapers' perspectives are. Why is that?
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Karen Nelson
Willmar
