(Dullard Mush) – When the Nevada News Bureau (NNB) officially launched last week, it did give one pause to see that Chuck Muth was behind the operation. For the politically paranoid (which, last checked, seemed to be the majority) this naturally meant news from a solely uber-conservative viewpoint that would make even FOX News blush. And, depending on your bent, this was either the greatest thing since sliced bread or evil incarnate.
The whole “evil” part was quickly provided by Nevada State Democratic Party communications director Phoebe Sweet, who managed to squeeze “right-wing screeds,” “partisan hackery,” and “laughable” (twice!) in a short, but not very sweet, press release. The Las Vegas Sun, though, provided a more in-depth look at the venture.
But both glossed over the fact that the real heavy-lifting at the NNB will be by Sean Whaley. A journalist who logged almost two decades in Carson City for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, he doesn’t exactly fit the profile of a partisan hack. And a look at the first series of articles would tend to bear that out — straight forward, if not a tad mundane, pieces on Nevada government.
But what about the Muth factor and the charge of bias?
“Our content and the balance of stories will, I hope, speak for themselves. We will do straight statehouse and political reporting as well as investigative journalism,” said NNB editor Elizabeth Crum. “We are going to uncover and report on instances of government waste, fraud, and corruption, on either side of the political aisle, and I imagine there will be some very unhappy ‘R’s’ as well as ‘D’s’ along the way. The misuse and abuse of taxpayer dollars is unacceptable and should transcend any consideration of party lines; we will report the facts as we find them.”
