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M odern P atriot C hronicles
An Eleventh Commandment Free Zone
Vol. 6, Issue 4
May 6, 2007
By Craig Dawkins

KTOK Bias: Obvious, Emotional, and Unprofessional
County Taxes on the rise?

Copyright@2007, All Rights Reserved
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POLLS! POLLS! POLLS! POLLS!

Has KTOK's coverage regarding Tim Pope and Brent Rinehart been over-the-top biased?

Yes, it's completely out of balance.
No, they are treating Pope and Rinehart like anybody else.

Go to www.ModernPatriot.net and vote today!!!
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(Disclosure: It is important that I inform you that I work 14 hours per week for Oklahoma County Commissioner Brent Rinehart. While I believe my writing on this issue is from an unbiased perspective, it is important to disclose my interest. I also have been recently appointed by Rinehart to the Oklahoma County Jail Funding Task Force as his representative in working through problems associated with the Oklahoma County jail. While I am VERY part time, I feel I have a unique perspective on what goes on inside Oklahoma County government. While I have disclosed this before, I feel a need to do so once again as I usually do not write about county government. So for those tired of county government stories, please bear with me.)

KTOK Bias: Obvious, Emotional, and Unprofessional

Today is a special day. Today, May 6, 2007, is the anniversary date of a KTOK story about Tim Pope and Brent Rinehart that has been on the KTOK.com website non-stop since April 6, 2007. While the headline proclaims: "Rinehart Says He's Innocent/Won't Resign," the story is also about Tim Pope. The story shows mug shots taken at the Oklahoma County jail. This story has been featured on their website 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and has never been once removed and is the only unchanged headline since 4/6/07.

Today KTOK is featuring three local stories. Two relate to Rinehart and Pope. Both stories are old news. Both stories serve a purpose for KTOK. What purpose? You'll have to call Jerry Bohnen and ask him what the purpose is for placing old news on the front page of their website for an entire month.

The second story is titled, "Ethics Commission Suggests Donation Return." This is a story about Rinehart seeking an opinion about in-kind contributions donated to his 2004 campaign over a year ago. The headline would lead you to believe this is a current story. It's not. Once again, it's a very old story.

So what's going on here? Either we are to believe that KTOK is purposefully reporting old news because they don't have any local or state news that is more relevant, or they are focused on Pope and Rinehart in an obvious, emotional, and unprofessional manner.

This isn't the first time this has occurred. Earlier this year, Bohnen wrote and aired a story falsely attributing missing inventory to Rinehart's office. It wasn't an accidental misunderstanding. Melissa Gandel, who is no longer with KTOK, read the story over the air. When she was asked about the inaccurate story, she referred Michael Cross as the source. Michael Cross admitted the story was misreported.

Cross was the one who had attended the meeting where MIS department inventory was written off. The MIS office is managed by the entire Board of County Commissioners. Laying this at the feet of Brent Rinehart was clearly a distortion of the facts. But you would have never known this having heard the story written by Bohnen. Bohnen, being caught red handed, had to retract the story. While the retraction was not heard or recorded, Bohnen's proclamation of Rinehart being "concerned about shortages in the Assessor's office over a year ago, but was strangely quiet about his own shortages" (paraphrased) was broadcast during morning drive time.

Some of you might be asking, "Why doesn't Rinehart sue?" Because Rinehart is a public person, he does not enjoy the legal protection of an average citizen. KTOK reporters understand that they can spew whatever they want about Rinehart (and Pope) without concern of being sued. So there will be no fact checker as it applies to Rinehart and Pope. KTOK has chosen a 'facts be damned' approach that is obvious, emotional and unprofessional in my humble opinion. As a person who has, in the past, appreciated Bohnen's work as it relates to the Oklahoma City bombing, I can no longer assign unverified credibility to Bohnen's news segments.

Shortly after Edmondson proclaimed the guilt of Pope and Rinehart in announcing his charges, Bohnen tracked down Jack Cornett, the commissioner defeated by Rinehart in the 2004 Republican primary election. Cornett called Rinehart a crook. Gee, do you think Cornett might still be smarting from the loss? I personally find it ironic that the man, who had the entire District Two highway department building painted yellow with the name COUNTY COMMISSIONER JACK CORNETT stenciled in five foot letters on the building's north side facing I-240, would even have a clue about taxpayer abuse. Cornett even stated that he'd be willing to serve out the rest of Rinehart's term. Bohnen, in my opinion, has acted badly as a journalist.

If Bohnen has an opinion, perhaps he just needs to go on the air and proclaim it. Framing the stories against Rinehart and Pope under the cover of news is unprofessional. As a person who writes opinion, opinion presented as news is most offensive. That's why Fox News developed the "We report you decide" slogan. Network news had become so biased that people didn't trust it anymore. While Fox News reports on KTOK at the top of the hour, local reporting should not be trusted or viewed in that same light. Can anyone remember when Fox News had the same story linked to their front web page for an entire month?

After Edmondson's charges were made public, KTOK did something I haven't witnessed in some while. They sponsored a week long poll asking if Rinehart should resign. The poll was announced in morning and evening drive time for an entire week. KTOK didn't even do that on the abortion question vetoed by Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry. Nor did they do it about the immigration issue. In fact, I can't think of another time they sponsored a week long poll. Can you?

A person, who shall remain nameless at this time, has much to say about how Bohnen handled Rinehart stories. In order to protect this person, I'm not going to say anymore about them as they don't deserve to be blacklisted for speaking out in confidence. But in looking at the behavior of KTOK via Bohnen, is there really any question about the bias? Not as far as I can see. But that's just me.

I'm thinking of sponsoring a 'winner takes all' money pot for the person accurately predicting when KTOK will pull down the April 6, 2007 story, still featured on the front page of their site. But it might last a while as the bias of KTOK via Bohnen is quite high indeed. (Do you think they will pull the stories even after their bias is made public?)

But seriously, when you look at all the other local and state stories, doesn't it seem JUST A BIT ODD, that Bohnen has chosen to feature the Rinehart and Pope stories? The Phipps-Stipe stories involving 'straw donors' involve much higher level abuses and yet there has been little about these stories reported on the KTOK website by comparison. Even if one holds the opinion that Rinehart and Pope are guilty, doesn't it just seem over the top for these two to be a front page focus for over a month?

OR is it just me?
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Are County Taxes on the rise?

You are not aware of this at this time, (it hasn't been reported by the media) that Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel has requested an additional $9 million in General Fund dollars for the next fiscal year. To put this in perspective, Whetsel operated with roughly $11 million in fiscal year 2001-2002. His new request puts that total to a new high of $33.3 million dollars. A 300% increase. It is, of course, unaffordable for the county without some kind of tax increase.

A $109 million dollar capital improvement project has also been included in Whetsel's submission. But this cannot happen without a significant increase in county taxes. Either the county will try to raise a sales tax or will try to borrow with bonds. You may remember the last time Whetsel attempted a sales tax increase. It lost by an 81% margin.

Due to the lack of fiscal control in the sheriff's office, I have been floating the idea of establishing a jail trust to the other task force committee members. While the idea has not caught on as of yet, I raise the issue because a jail trust could not do worse than requiring a 300% increase in funding over six years.

If you live in Oklahoma County, stay tuned.