We never thought we'd see Mary Franson, Minnesota House queen of the anti-maskers, shame another politician about not wearing a mask, but Franson's Facebook comment was misleading, a letter posted online Wednesday at the Alexandria Echo Press, suggests that very thing happened on the Forum Communications chain paper's Facebook page:
In regard to Jon Koll's letter to the editor in the Dec. 4th Echo Press, "Irresponsible religious conservatives," [link added by BSP] Rep. Mary Danielle Franson commented on your Facebook page. I quote: "The Governor is also doing meetings...while not wearing (mask)."
Then Mary provided a link to GrandRapidsMN.com, a Dec. 2, 2020 article "Mesabi Metallics working in new Lease" with a photo.
The photo does show Gov. Walz without a mask, however, there is an editor's note below the photo stating that it is from December 19 (2019) before COVID-19 and before the mask mandate was in place.
Representatives who vote on laws that affect us should be well read. They should be someone who does their homework, not someone who is careless or purposely deceives constituents. That is totally irresponsible.
We looked to see if Franson's comment were still on the Echo Press's Facebook post of the letter, but it appears to have been removed. Fortunately, a reader in the Alexandria community were able to send us the screenshot at the top of this post.
The article Franson shared, Mesabi Metallics working on new lease, now sports this cutline under the photo:
Editor's note: A previous version of the photo of Gov. Tim Walz was originally published in December 2019 before a COVID-19 arrived in the state and a mask mandate was in place.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz chats with State Senator Dave Tomassoni and St. Louis County Commissioner Mike Jugovich before the December 2019 annual RAMS meeting in Mountain Iron.
Mark Sauer/Mesabi Daily News
Given that Franson wasn't a journalism or mass communications major at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, perhaps she never. learned the concept of the file photo, but given their frequent use in political reporting, Bluestem is surprised that she hadn't noticed.
As Jeff Sonderman pointed out for Poynter back in 2013's Use of generic photos can be dangerous for illustrating news stories,
. . .Maybe you just need some kind of image, any image, to color an otherwise gray slate of text.
Whatever the reason, many news websites make use of generic images — either purchased stock images or— to illustrate articles. . . .
Many news organizations are in greater danger these days of getting sloppy with their choice and labeling of images, he noted. “A casualty of the downturn in the economy and the mass downsizing of newsrooms is the picture editor role. Thus, almost all TV news websites and newer online entities are lacking individuals with expertise in the area of photographic research, reporting and editing.”
We're glad to see the editors of the Grand Rapids Herald Review update the cutline, and hope that editors keep in mind how those old, maskless photos can be used by folks like Franson to score a hit.
But apparently Franson isn't taking back her own rush to judgment. Another screenshot of an now-deleted exchange on the Echo Press Facebook post of the new letter:
There's a robust Facebook discussion of the now-deleted comment on Esther Mehrer's letter on the Echo Press page. We also suspect Franson would come off better if she were to cite tweets by the satirical Sheila Kihne twitter account than the original as a source, but that's just our bias.
Here's the text of Letter: Irresponsible religious conservatives hurt others, Jon Koll's letter that got Franson's creative juices flowing:
As I write this letter, I am aware that the Republican president has brought out the worst in me. Once patient and highly tolerant of idiosyncrasies in myself and others, I have become much less so over the past four years. I see it in others, as well.
With that, I will proceed with every effort to be as kind as possible while calling out religious conservatives on their profound silliness. On Nov. 25, the Echo Press published two stories of particular interest to me. One story was about Mary Franson’s meeting in person with two dozen people in a small cafe to bash Gov. Walz’s management of COVID-19. Most were not wearing masks.
The second article explained that the spread of COVID-19 in Ottertail County is the second highest in the nation.
In my effort to be kind, I am left without many good choices in adjectives to describe the stunning irresponsibility I see in religious conservatives. In the name of “freedom” they say and do things that hurt others. So exclusively focused on protecting the unborn, they have forgotten to care for the born.
We said something very similar in our post, State rep hosts meeting in county making national news as COVID hotspot, slams Walz order:
English writer Thomas Hardy waxed poetic about the Titanic meeting an iceberg in The Convergence of the Twain.
Two headlines in the Alexandria Echo Press and the Detroit Lakes Online (it's in Minnesota BTW), nearly moved us to poetry this morning, but we're settling for a blog post.
First, Google alerts called Karen Tolkkinen's article in the Echo Press, Otter Tail County meeting slams Walz over shutdown order, to our attention:
Personal liberty and keeping businesses afloat during the pandemic were among concerns expressed at meeting in the town of Ottertail hosted by Rep. Mary Franson, R-Alexandria, on Friday, Nov. 20.
The 7 a.m. meeting was held at Betty's Pantry on the final day restaurants can be open in Minnesota before a four-week shutdown along with bars, salons and other businesses ordered by Gov. Tim Walz. It drew about two dozen people from around Otter Tail County. Most were not wearing masks. . . .
Photo: From the article Otter Tail County meeting slams Walz over shutdown order: "State Rep. Mary Franson, R-Alexandria, greets those at a Nov. 20 breakfast meeting in Ottertail to discuss Democratic Gov. Tim Walz's emergency order closing restaurants and other businesses for four weeks. She soon pulled her mask over her mouth and nose. (Karen Tolkkinen / Echo Press)."
As my late father would have said, you can't beat copy like that with a stick.
UPDATE, December 11, 2020, 11:57 p.m.: On her Representative Mary Franson Facebook page on Friday, December 11 (screenshot and image above), the Alexandria Republican defends herself against the Letter to the Editor in the Echo Press.
Several of Franson's fans claim that the use of file photos is done on purpose as a gotcha game. Examples:
That editors not was MOST DEFINITELY not there originally. It was added later. I know this for a fact and will see if the "wayback machine" proves it. I saw their article both BEFORE and after the note was added.Here's a link to the wayback machine website for that article. You can see their snapshot of it on Dec 4th matches your screenshot. The snapshot on Dec 6th then has the editor's not added.Perhaps publications should explicitly state when a photo being used is NOT for actual event they are reporting on.
The Left purposefully omits the date reference on the photos so that they can wait in hiding and then shame people. That is one of the things they do best. Setup and shame those that fall for it... I PM'd several people that I saw share this photo to let them know it was a setup.
Defund the media! News articles should use current photos not old ones! I’ve seen this happen quite frequently and not just with the governor.
[end update]
Related posts:
- State rep hosts meeting in county making national news as COVID hotspot, slams Walz order
- Contact tracing: Is Mary Franson's circle of conservative friends metaphor for COVID romp?
- Mary Franson calls Echo Press non-endorsement for MNHouse 8B "an endorsement of sorts"
- Local doctor scolds Rep. Mary Franson for sharing complete quackery on thermometer guns
Screenshots: Now deleted comments by Mary Franson on the Alexandria Echo Press's Facebook page. Since her constituents are keeping the receipts and sending them to media, perhaps she'd consider responding with more prudent leadership. Supplied images.
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