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U.S. Rep. Steve King,. R-Iowa, tells the Spencer Daily reporter that he’s not going to deal with some media anymore. King said he’s out of other “cheeks” to turn.
King recently turned down a debate opportunity in Sioux City, the largest municipality in his sprawling district, because he was upset over a story in the Sioux City Journal written by highly respected veteran journalist Bret Hayworth — who has the reputation as a fair, thorough reporter, not a partisan Molitov cocktail-heaver. The story quoted Monona County Democratic Party chairman Ken Mertes concern over what he believes to be King’s ” consistently racist remarks.” The quote was deep into a comprehensive piece examining King’s effectiveness.
King has previously taken issue with The Des Moines Register, going so far to appeal to potential donors with a pitch that the newspaper has victimized him. In 2006, King said there was a left-wing conspiracy against him in one of the more conservative and reliably Republican congressional districts.
In this latest interview, King said some journalists have had enough chances with him — although he didn’t name anyone in specific.
Here is the Spencer Daily Reporter:
King recently has felt the impact of some media criticism, and reportedly declined to participate in a debate sponsored by the Sioux City Journal due to what he felt was unfair coverage.
“I don’t want to say whether I’ve been treated fairly or not,” King told the Pilot-Tribune Monday. “I will say that the press is getting analytically very lazy. They think they can print anything, whether it is barely a rumor-let alone fact.
“As far as I’m concerned they have the right to say whatever they will on the editorial page, because I believe in the Constitutional right to free speech, but when they start printing their own offensive opinions in the news pages as if they were fact, I do have a problem with that.”
King said that he would work with any form of media that treats him decently, but that he would no longer go out of his way for those that do not.
“If you treat someone well and they turn around and slap you, you turn the other cheek and try again. But if they just slap you again for it, well, as far as I’m concerned, I’m out of cheeks.”
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