To the Editor:

Journalism is hard. It requires reporting the balanced truth of what is known. Journalism restricts the claims we can make about how wrong others are (and how right we are). It restricts us to reality.

False depiction propaganda is pretty much the direct opposite of journalism. But traditionally, even the most extreme political propagandists have had limits. They will not publish a piece that tries to berate their opponents for doing an act that their own candidate has also done.

 The Dec. 3 Great Bend Tribune column by Dane Hicks crossed over that traditional limit of extreme false depiction political propaganda. It criticized Gov. Kelly for running a political action committee, PAC, during this year’s election cycle. Mr. Hicks claimed authority for his criticism by stating that he has read the state constitution. He devoted about 40% of his column to meandering quotes of the constitution. He inferred that Gov. Kelly, as a member of the executive branch, was not permitted by the constitution to run a PAC.           

In 2012, Kris Kobach, who as Secretary of State was also a member of the executive branch, founded his own PAC that he used in the 2012 election cycle. Kobach was a candidate for the 2018 election for governor that Kelly won. Mr. Hicks berates Kelly for doing the same thing that Kobach did. That is extreme false depiction political propaganda.

The Dec. 12 Great Bend Tribune column by Earl Watt follows a more traditional pathway of false depiction political propaganda. It infers a claim, but never states the claim directly. The claim is that Donald Trump did not make payments to Stormy Daniels to keep a story about an old sexual liaison out of public view before the 2016 presidential election. Mr. Watts never actually states that Trump did not do what he was found guilty of. Instead, he states the claim that “raw politics” infected Trump’s trial.

A jury of 12 people found Trump guilty. Mr. Watt rejects the jury finding because, statistically, only two of them likely voted for Trump. All 12 jurors were seated with the participation of Trump’s attorneys, including the two that likely voted for Trump. If even one juror did not agree, Trump would not have been found guilty. But the jurors unanimously found Trump guilty beyond a reasonable doubt on 34 counts.

 If Mr. Watts directly stated that Trump was innocent, he would have to explain how the jury members did what they did. Instead, he just inferred Trump was innocent. That is the more traditional pathway of false depiction political propaganda.

Neither of these columns followed the standard of balanced truth required by journalism. Both falsely promoted how right the authors were and how wrong those being criticized were. I hope in the future, that the Great Bend Tribune will require Opinion page columns to reflect the rules of journalism.

John Sturn

Ellinwood