Letter: Why didn’t The Tribune challenge Chaffetz’s conspiracy theory?
(Scott Sommerdorf | The Salt Lake Tribune) U.S. Senator Jason Chaffetz with his wife Julie at his side, paused to compose himself as he was talking about what an honor it was for him to represent Utah as he spoke at the Utah Republican Party Organizing Convention, Saturday, May 19, 2017.
Good letter in the Tribune Aug. 31 from Blair Bateman about “conspiracy nut Chaffetz.” Too bad Bateman’s letter appears on the Editorial page, while Chaffetz’s “conspiracy nut theories” appeared on Page 1 as a major “news” story.
How many people reading that so-called news story, a recirculation of Trump’s and others’ fear-mongering conspiracy theories, accepted them as fact because they appeared on the front page of The Tribune? I looked in vain for some black box, some paragraph, like the FDA uses in warnings about potentially dangerous drugs, to signal the public that what was being reported was not true, but alas, there was nothing.
This is once again a failure of The Tribune to be truly vigilant in its responsibilities as members of the free press, to expose lies as such, and help the public in these dire times of crisis, with the truth.
Michael A. Kalm, Salt Lake City
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