South Carolina panel censures Sanford; Times downplays the news

Here is the headline and the first two paragraphs of today’s New York Times article on the latest Mark Sanford development:

S.C. Panel Kills Measure to Impeach Governor

Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina may have lost his wife after his tearful confession that he had traveled to Argentina as part of a yearlong extramarital affair, but he almost certainly will not lose his office.

The state House Judiciary Committee voted, 18 to 6, on Wednesday to kill a resolution to impeach the embattled governor, less than a week after his wife, Jenny Sanford, announced that she had filed for divorce on grounds of adultery. She waited until after a special panel of lawmakers said last week that it would recommend against impeachment.

Not until the fifth paragraph of the article does the Times deign to inform us:

The committee voted unanimously for a resolution to censure the governor for dereliction of duty, official misconduct and abuses of power that “brought ridicule and dishonor to himself, the State of South Carolina, and to its citizens.”

I think that the unanimous passage of the censure motion should have been the headline and lead, especially as no one expected the impeachment move to succeed. The Times deliberately downplayed the censure, with its old fashioned, judgmental language about ridicule and dishonor.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at December 17, 2009 11:43 AM | Send