Sunday, May 11, 2008

More bias in The Week

I've commented on articles in The Week before being irresponsible (1, 2) but a recent one (http://www.theweekdaily.com/news_opinion/briefing/41181/briefing_married_to_a_mob.html), particularly the third paragraph, showed blatant bias and/or laziness--take your pick. For this one I didn't bother with posting a comment on the web page; other people had already done that. Here's the message I sent to the editors.

I would like to inquire as to who the anti-Mormon member of your editorial staff is. I have sensed an anti-Mormon bias in articles in the last few months about Romney and other issues, but nothing so blatant as the recent article about polygamy in the May 16 issue.
This article attributes to Joseph Smith instruction that a man must have at least three wives to enter heaven, and gives a date for the revelation. This date, much less this teaching, is not given by any reliable source, but is to be found in anti-Mormon literature. Polygamy was never a requirement in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--the three wives requirement is not to be found in any verified source. In short, the material used in the third paragraph was not drawn from reputable sources, and most likely was taken directly from anti-Mormon literature.
In addition to this rude display of journalistic irresponsibility, your editors have continued to ignore the AP Stylebook direction and the LDS Church's request that the term "Mormon" not be used to refer to any groups besides the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. From the Stylebook, "The term Mormon is not properly applied to the other Latter Day Saints churches that resulted from the split after [Joseph] Smith's death."
I recognize that it is the right of "The Week" and its editorial board to hold and express any opinion, however offensive, about Mormons and the LDS Church. Decency, however, would suggest that such editorial bias be saved for the editorial pieces and not the News section, where the readers of your magazine should be able to expect verified fact.