Did the Yakima Herald Just Call ALL Republicans Terrorists?
Sometimes reality is crazier than fiction. On December 5th, the Yakima Herald-Republic published a guest commentary by Roger Carlstrom titled, "You're my neighbors. Should I fear you now?" Whoever pressed publish on Carlstrom's letter had no regard for the Herald's existing editorial guidelines. They also permitted irrelevant imagery to be used in a very dangerous way. So dangerous, in fact, the Herald may have just called every Republican in Yakima a domestic terrorist.
Roger Carlstrom's guest commentary published by the Yakima Herald-Republic on December 8, 2023. The first image points out blatant violations of the Yakima Herald's own rules (ads blocked out), and the second is the body of the editorial (well over 200 words long).
What's Unquestionably Wrong with This Article?
If you don't – or can't – see it, we'll make it clear. The Yakima Herald-Republic can't seem to abide by its own editorial rules. Here is what's objectively wrong with their article.
1. It's Too Long
The Herald states,
"Letters have a firm 200-word limit..."
It sounds picky on our part, but at least we know what 200 words looks like. The editorial comes in at a full-figured 456 words – over 2x longer than it ought to be.
2. The Letter Doesn't Address the Correct Person
According to the Herald's own rules,
"Letters must address the editor, not a third party."
A clear violation of this rule occurred, as the letter is addressed to "Republicans in the Yakima Valley."
Unless the editorial board is now claiming they're Republicans, and that they're located in the Yakima Valley (both are laughable, as the Herald is owned by the Seattle Times), this letter shouldn't be published.
3. It's an Open Letter
The Herald's rules also state,
"We will not print form letters, libelous letters, business promotions or personal disputes, poetry, open letters, letters espousing religious views without reference to a current issue, or letters considered in poor taste."
The salutation of this editorial literally begins with, "An open letter to..." which is a clear violation of the Herald's own guidelines.
The 3 violations we just mentioned aren't subjective ones. They're factual and easy to prove. At this point, it's reasonable to be asking questions like:
- Is there another set of rules the Herald is using that we don't know about?
- Are there different rules between what the Herald will print versus put online?
The Herald's violations are so blatant, it's hard to not assume there's some kind of nuance we're overlooking. But answering "yes" to either question has some negative implications.
Why is the Herald Using a Photo of J6?
In the world of news media, imagery is one of the most important parts of the story. The imagery the Herald chose to use (or allow, if Carlstrom picked it), was a photo of the January 6th, 2021 protest from the Associated Press.
The editorial's photo of J6 was captioned:
...a man holds a Bible as Trump supporters gather outside the Capitol in Washington. The Christian imagery and rhetoric on view during this month’s Capitol insurrection are sparking renewed debate about the societal effects of melding Christian faith with an exclusionary breed of nationalism.
About the Yakima Herald's Editorial
Some basic research shows that Roger Carlstrom – the author – is a long retired, union favoring, former English professor of the Yakima Valley College. He's obviously more on the left side of the political spectrum.
To give a summation of his editorial, Carlstrom makes three main claims:
- Trump hates/fears Mexicans and Muslims.
- If elected, Trump will seek revenge against individuals he considers his enemies, and he will demand loyalty in the FBI/DOJ.
- If elected, Yakima's Republicans will either 1) permit Trump to take vengeance on his enemies, and/or 2) give themselves license to join him in revenge "against those who have wronged or betrayed" them.
Carlstrom concludes by asking the Republicans of Yakima,
"If I were to say or write something with which you disagreed, should I fear you?"
Carlstrom never once mentions the J6 protest or uses the word "Christians" in his editorial. So why is an inflammatory photo of a Bible bearing J6-er being used here at all? What makes the photo relevant to Carlstrom's letter?
Is the Yakima Herald Incompetent or Malicious?
There are two lines of thought we can take regarding why the Herald chose to publish Carlstrom's letter alongside a seemingly irrelevant and inflammatory photo of J6: incompetence or malice.
Ironically, it comes down to whether you believe the Herald can follow yet another one of their stated rules:
"We will not print...letters espousing religious views without reference to a current issue, or letters considered in poor taste."
1. The Option of Incompetence in Yakima's Media
If the Herald is simply not following its own rules, we could write off their use of the J6 photo as some form of incompetence. The photo clearly espouses a religious viewpoint, but it fails to reference the current issue Carlstrom is bringing up:
He finds the existence of local Yakima Republicans frightening. He didn't just address "Trump supporters," he addressed ALL Yakima Valley Republicans.
A more representative picture for the editorial would have been one of the southern border crisis, or maybe a local Latino or Palestinian protest, since Carlstrom claims Trump hates those ethnicities and free speech so much.
Perhaps the Herald could have used the Yakima GOP logo like they did in one of their other editorial hit pieces against Republicans.
2. The Option of Malice in the Yakima Herald
The other possibility is that the Yakima Herald truly does believe that using an anti-Christian photo of J6 is representative of Carlstrom's opinion.
This option forces us to consider the context of Carlstrom's editorial. It wasn't published on the recent anniversary of J6, which would have been much more timely and wasn't far away.
No, the editorial was published after the Yakima City Council had a recent overhaul in leadership. Specifically, the Council flipped from a Democrat majority to a Republican one.
On top of that, the Yakima County Republican Party was much more active in campaigning this election season than it had been previously – a feat the Herald didn't let go unpunished.
If it isn't incompetence, by using that J6 photo, the Herald is equating every Yakima Republican with an "exclusionary breed of [Christian] nationalism," (per the photo's own caption).
And do you happen to remember what the attendees of J6 were dubbed by the press and the Biden Administration?
Headlines calling J6 protestors "domestic terrorists" and likening the protest to 9/11/2001.
That's right...domestic terrorists.
J6 was likened to 9/11, and the protest's attendees were branded "domestic terrorists" by the Biden Administration. They've received a level of federal punishment that can only be described as retribution against the supporters of a former President.
If it's not incompetence, this is very malicious behavior from our press towards the majority of Yakima's voting populace – Republicans.
If you want to believe the Yakima Herald is incompetent, go right ahead. For Carlstrom's editorial to exist, there was plenty of objective rule breaking that had to happen, and outright malice is always tough to prove.
But juxtaposing an anti-Christian photo of J6 with some local retiree's passive-aggressive rant against the majority of Yakima's political populace is no joke. Accidental or intentional, our legacy news just likened all Yakima Republicans to "domestic terrorists."
