Does the Washington Post have a policy against using the word ‘Democrat’ when reporting on arrested politicians?
Timothy P. Carney
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Former College Park Mayor Patrick Wojahn this month was sentenced to 5 years in prison for pornography convictions.
Former businessman and political fundraiser Tony Lazzaro this month was sentenced to 21 years in prison for sex trafficking causes.
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You can read about both of these convictions in the Washington Post, which has covered these cases for months. A big difference: Not a single one of the Washington Post stories on Wojahn’s sex offenses mention his party or his political allies, and every single one of the Washington Post’s stories on Lazzaro mentions his party in the headline and the first sentence, and goes on to mention his political allies.
You can guess which party each belongs to.
When Wojahn was first arrested in March, I noted that the Washington Post omitted Wojahn’s party from both of the stories, and omitted that he was a gay rights activist. In contrast, when socially conservative politicians get arrested on sex charges, the Washington Post tends to include mention of their social causes.
When Wojahn pleaded guilty in April, the partisan double standard became more glaring, especially because the story was proceeding parallel to Lazzaro’s case.
Technically, Wojahn was elected mayor in a nonpartisan election, but by every measure he is a Democratic politician — and the Washington Post knows that, even if their readers don’t. The 527 organization Democratic Municipal Officials repeatedly claimed Wojahn as one of their “leaders.” He used the Maryland Democratic Party’s “Voter Activation Network.” Campaign finance filings show that ActBlue, a Democratic bundling organization, backed Wojahn.
Wojahn endorsed Pete Buttigieg in the Democratic primary in 2020, and has given thousands of dollars to Democrats including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, while giving no money to Republicans.
The Washington Post, in pre-arrest stories, treated Wojahn as a Democrat: Here’s a Washington Post piece from 2017 about jubilant Democrats celebrating victories in Maryland — one of the jubilant victorious candidates is Wojahn.
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Washington Post stories on Lazzaro’s arrest talk about him posing for pictures for Trump. Washington Post stories on Wojahn omit his connection to Buttigieg, and his invitations to the Biden White House.
They know Wojahn is a Democratic gay rights activist, and they regularly informed their readers of that — until he was revealed as a sex criminal.