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I thought you might be interested in the article from the FAIR web site. The following article will be appended to your message: Media Downplay Bigotry of Jesse Helms News that North Carolina's Jesse Helms will retire from the Senate when his term is up in 2003 received polite coverage in mainstream media. USA Today (8/22/01) described Helms' views as "unabashed and outspoken conservatism." To the Washington Post (8/22/01), Helms is one of the Senate's "most ardent champions of conservative causes...a man of bold colors and few pastels." Curiously using the past tense, the Los Angeles Times observed, "he personified the unvarnished, uncompromising, attack-dog brand of conservatism." (8/22/01) Most of the coverage alluded to Helms' unrepentant racism and homophobia--though few called it that. Some outlets presented his bigotry as merely accusations from political foes: "His opponents have accused him of using race to win elections" (CBS Evening News, 8/21/01). Overall, most outlets painted Helms as a conservative whose career has merely been punctuated by controversial episodes, not as a demagogue whose career has been defined by the politics of hate and reaction. One exception was Washington Post columnist David Broder, whose August 29 column, headlined "Jesse Helms, White Racist," offered a glimpse into the public record that many other reporters were side-stepping. Broder offered a few examples of Helms' bigotry. There are many. To read the rest of the article, please click on the link below. http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1871 This article was published on Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting's Website (http://www.fair.org).

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