Conservative site posts Dean-Lee debate story about questions that weren’t asked
NASHVILLE – An online publication led by conservative talk radio host Steve Gill published a story about Tuesday’s gubernatorial debate in Memphis between Republican Bill Lee and Democrat Karl Dean focusing on questions that were not asked at the event.
On Wednesday, the Tennessee Star published a story by a reporter identified as investigative journalist Chris Butler that includes the candidates’ answers to questions about the NFL and immigration.
“Panelists asked both men how they view NFL players who kneel during the National Anthem,” the story said. No such question was asked at the debate.
Further, the story includes quotes from Lee and Dean about their views on the issue, as well as sanctuary cities.
When asked about the story, Gill, who serves as the Tennessee Star’s political editor, said, “The audio from the last debate/forum in August was mistakenly used by or provided to Chris in doing the recap rather than last night’s audio.”
Gill said the story would be corrected with a recap of Tuesday’s debate. An updated version of the story included a link to a YouTube video published in August that features a mash up of Dean and Lee’s responses in debates they participated prior to the primary election.
The original story said Dean and Lee were asked Tuesday about a new state law banning sanctuary cities, none of which exist in Tennessee. No such question was asked at the debate.
The story included quotes from Lee and Dean on the subject of the sanctuary cities legislation and immigration more broadly.
In the story, Lee is referred to as conservative. Dean is referred to as a “leftwinger,” with the headline calling him “Karl ‘Marx’ Dean” — a reference to 19th century socialist Karl Marx.
Ken Paulson, dean of Middle Tennessee State University’s College of Media and Entertainment, said although he had never heard of the Tennessee Star and it is entitled to exercise its “free press rights,” the Marx reference indicated the online publication was “clearly a political vehicle.”
While the Tennessee Star’s story includes individual photos of Dean and Lee, the images did not come from Tuesday’s debate. The Tennessee Star was not among the credentialed media at attended the event.
The Tennessee Star has delved into politics with a host of articles about ongoing campaigns.
In July, when a new poll came out showing Lee surging in the Republican primary, the site published a story that took verbatim lines from an email sent out by a campaign staffer for Randy Boyd, who challenged Lee in the primary, without attribution.
“The Detroit News reported in August 2017 that Vertical Strategies and Victory Phones are part of the political consulting empire built by Michigan based political mega-consultant, John Yob. Advictory is also listed as a company connected to Yob,” the Tennessee Star wrote at the time.
That language was word-for-word from an internal document Boyd’s campaign sent to reporters the day before the Tennessee Star’s story was published.
Throughout this year’s elections, the Tennessee Star has openly attacked various candidates running for office and questioned reporting of mainstream news organizations. The site regularly hosts political ads and has done its own polling in some races.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Diane Black, who also lost to Lee in the Aug. 2 primary, cited the Tennessee Star stories in her campaign ads.