Sam Brinton: What “they” said

I serve on the board of Alpha News and am proud of the work that this small outfit does to provide an alternate source of news in the Twin Cities. Editor Anthony Gockowski’s scrupulously detailed story on Sam “Not the Man” Brinton has struck a nerve. It has been featured on FOX News and covered across the pond.

On Twitter Bill Glahn has noted the impact of the story. In one tweet Bill cited the outlets that carried the story.

At the same time, he noted the lack of local coverage in the Twin Cities. This despite the local angle to the story.

Bill sardonically characterized the story as “more news than can be consumed locally.”

When Bill tweeted out the New York Post story on Brinton, he made the generally applicable observation that “it’s a clown world, we’re just living in it.” That general observation has special application to the Minnesota media.

The Star Tribune got around to the story last night. Reporter Paul Walsh’s story recites the allegations of the criminal complaint while adding nothing to it. Walsh does not mention Anthony Gockowski or credit Alpha News for breaking the story. Compare and contrast Walsh’s story with Gockowski’s. One senses that Walsh did not have his heart in it.

I take it that Walsh is complying with Brinton’s choice of pronouns here: “Brinton checked into a downtown St. Paul hotel later that day and had the woman’s luggage. On Sept. 18, they checked the stolen luggage on a flight back to Washington, D.C.” And here: “An MSP police officer called Brinton on the same day of the flight from Europe and asked about the theft. They at first denied knowing anything about it, then acknowledged taking the suitcase but denied that clothes for another person were inside.”

Lest we think that this is some kind of mistake or oversight, Walsh repeats the routine in the story’s concluding paragraph: “Brinton called the officer back and apologized for not being honest and recalled being tired and thinking the luggage was theirs. Brinton recounted opening the suitcase at the St. Paul hotel and getting nervous about being thought of as a thief. The clothes were left in the hotel dresser, they said.” It must be Star Tribune policy. So you can see that the Star Tribune has its priorities in order.

I say this. Now that the Star Tribune has “covered” the story it is okay for other local news outlets to mention it.

UPDATE: Anthony follows up on the story’s local angle today in “Biden’s genderfluid ‘nuclear nerd’ was in town for conference when he stole luggage.”

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses