State department's site comes down with Davis Misinformation Syndrome

We've noted the tendency of some in the media to lose sight of basic facts about the race in Minnesota's First after coming into contact with the Davis campaign, and dubbed this disorder Davis Misinformation Syndrome (DMS).

Now we find another case of it at a government sponsored site, America.gov, produced by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Information Programs.

We've captured and cropped a screen shot of one of several articles published this week, all written by staff writer Kathryn McConnell. Note the caption under the photo:

"Tim Walz is serving his first term as the representative from Minnesota 1st Congressional District."

Note the person in the photo. Nice work, Kathryn.

This moment in journalism (and on the government's dime this time) joins the news article that had Walz beating Davis in 2006, Davis raising more money in Q2 2008 than Walz (fortunately corrected by the source), and other unforgettable treatments of the race so far. (Click on our media watch category for our ongoing look at DMS)

McConnell may be more susceptible to DMS than others. As we mentioned in passing at the end of a post yesterday, McConnell focused yet another piece around the idea of party switchers, leading off with a long segment on the views of Bernie McGuire, who she wrote was once a Democrat. Somehow, in a piece touting party-switchers, she neglected to note that Bernie was on the executive board of the Nicollet County Republicans in 2006.

There's another article about the First on the site, Immigration Reform Major Issue in Minnesota Food-Processing City, that doesn't stick to the topic about Austin, but wanders over to Farmfest. Republican primary challenger State Senator Dick Day's views on immigration are included in the piece, but not his presence at Farmfest's congressional forum. Uneven treatment at best.

But at least the caption on the photo from the Spam Museum is matched with an appropriate photo. McConnell and the team at the State Department have potential.