Journalistic malpractice committed in Kentucky Republican governor’s race

Even before I left the journalism profession, I’d become critical of the way the news is covered. From the stories that are chosen vs. those that are ignored, to the way certain stories are presented, I saw journalism, especially the kind practiced by daily newspapers, swirling around the drain a long time ago.

But now that I’m on the other side of things, and have had the misfortune to be misquoted or have a quote taken out of context as a source for a news story (thankfully, very rarely,) I see it even more clearly.

As someone who remains a staunch defender of the First Amendment and appreciates the role the press is supposed to play, this pains me. But day after day, I see journalistic malpractice being committed to the extent that it’s becoming obvious that most of the traditional mainstream media’s wounds are self-inflicted. 

Nowhere was this more evident than in the just-concluded Kentucky Republican gubernatorial primary. It’s hard to picture a bigger failure of journalists to do their jobs than in the way the governor’s race was covered.

A key factor in this year’s four-way primary, won by Louisville resident Matt Bevin by a razor-thin margin, was the role that blogger Michael Adams played in the race. Adams, you’ll recall, is the person who began making allegations that Jamie Comer assaulted a college girlfriend. His charges circulated around the Internet for months, but finally floated to the surface when the Lexington Herald-Leader reported that Adams had contacted the campaigns of two of Comer’s Republican rivals, Hal Heiner and Will T. Scott, to peddle his allegations. (Some nontraditional media outltes reported that Adams also made contact with the campaign of Attorney General Jack Conway, who was the presumptive Democratic gubernatorial nominee).

When Adams’ assertions hit the mainstream, the race blew wide open. Adams had been trying to convince Comer’s ex-girlfriend to give him information, but she refused. When the Herald-Leader story hit print, she felt compelled to contact The Courier-Journal to confirm the allegations. The rest is well-known. Comer blamed Heiner for spreading the story, accused his ex-girlfriend of making the story up for money, and the fallout is widely believed to have damaged both of them and allowed Bevin to emerge victorious by a scant 83 votes.

The big player in the race was clearly Adams, but why didn’t the media investigate him? Why did they never dig into his motivation for opposing Comer so ardently? How could they allow him to affect the race the way he did without questioning why? The closest anyone came was a story by CNHI’s political reporter Ronnie Ellis, but his story consisted mainly of Auditor Adam Edelen complaining about Adams’ prior involvement in a legislative race in Clark County. Giving Edelen, a Democrat, space to go on a partisan rant against how Adams was involved in opposition research against another Democrat a few years ago is hardly the same as shining some light on his motivation for getting involved in the governor’s race this year.

By not investigating Adams’ reasons for attacking Comer so viciously, but letting Adams’ revelations dominate the news as the campaign entered its final stretch, the media failed. And the press failed again by latching on to Adams’ more salacious allegations, yet not exploring his more substantive charges.

Comer ran primarily on his record the past four years as commissioner of agriculture. Adams made several claims that Comer has mismanaged the state’s pilot industrial hemp project, yet no one ever looked into those charges. One would think that from a policy standpoint, that would be more important than a “he said, she said” matter from two decades ago. But I can’t recall having seen any media outlet doing a story about the hemp issue. 

There were other media mistakes made as well. One of Comer’s top assistants in the Department of Agriculture left her official job and went to work for his campaign, then abruptly quit. Several prominent Comer supporters and donors, including family members of this former staffer, switched their support from Comer to Heiner. Some perfunctory reporting was done on their change of favored candidate, but no one looked into the bigger picture, including why a trusted aide left Comer’s side. Speculation ran rampant in cyberspace, but nothing was ever put on the record.

The domestic abuse allegations were low-hanging fruit. I’d been aware of them for months, long before they hit the mainstream, but didn’t consider them credible until the ex-girlfriend confirmed them. It would have taken a little more investigating to check out the charges of mismanagement of the hemp program, but that wasn’t as eye-catching or glamorous as allegations of physical abuse. And it would have required even more digging to get the scoop on the source of the charges himself.

We may never know what prompted Adams to turn into an anti-Comer zealot.  Had the press done its job, we would have found out. What if Adams decides to get involved in another race this fall? Will the press then try to learn what makes him tick, but only after he had an unscrutinized impact on the GOP gubernatorial primary?

When The C-J published the story in which Comer’s college girlfriend confirmed the abuse allegations, Comer’s attorney threatened a lawsuit. To date, none has been filed. A better case could be made against the entire Kentucky journalistic community for malpractice during the GOP primary. It’s too bad such an action isn’t possible.