My review of the May 12 episode of Iowa Press with Governor Kim Reynolds originally appeared in the June 2023 edition of The Prairie Progressive, Iowa’s oldest progressive newsletter. The PP is  funded entirely by reader subscription,  available in hard copy for $15/yr.  Send check to PP, Box 1945, Iowa City 52244. Click here for archived issues

As the famous neuro-linguist George Lakoff has written, Republicans speak in generalities that allow them to obfuscate, evade, reframe, deny, justify, rationalize, normalize, and distort to make their anti-democratic ideas sound like they could possibly make sense. This works for them because of our dysfunctional and fragmented media system.

Here is just one example of Kim Reynolds doing all of the above on Iowa Press May 12 in response to a question about private schools raising tuition after passage of the voucher bill.

“Any time you pass transformative legislation like we just did, a lot of times there is clean-up that needs to happen in the follow-up years. And so we’ll continue to monitor that. And it’s just like we passed, we provided flexibility to our public schools and I made it very clear that we’re going to continue to work over the interim and continue to look at  Chapter 12 working with our public school administrators to see if there is additional things, additional burdens and requirements that we can relieve them of to give them more, continue to give them more flexibility so that they can be innovative and competitive. So I look forward to continuing that conversation as well.”

Did your eyes glaze over? Reynolds’ response is a successful attempt to gloss over the GOP’s putrid bills so the average viewer would not notice anything. Keen observers know what she communicated—she’s going to continue slashing public school budgets and helping private schools. She couldn’t say that, because people would not be for it. Therein lies the Republican dilemma.

The only reason Rs get away with this strategy on Iowa Press is because there are so few follow-up questions. If there is one, they can easily slip by it. Here is another example:

Erin Murphy: “Have there been any examples that you can point to where the Auditor’s Office has gone too far?”

Reynolds: “I think there’s several out there… it does say he can’t have information he’s just curious about.”

Did anyone on the panel ask, “If there’s several out there, can you name one?” Or “What makes you think the auditor requests information he is “just curious” about?” That last one was more than likely something she made up out of whole cloth, but we’ll never know. They dropped the subject and moved onto the next question. Zero accountability. Every episode is full of this kind of missed opportunity.

Another example:

Zach Nunn, a Republican who inexplicably was able to knock off Democrat Cindy Axne:

“When I watch on the news a parent at a school board meeting being treated as a domestic terrorist, I think that struck a chord with a lot of parents that just for asking questions all of a sudden they were being put as an enemy of the state.”

Another one of those accidentally-on-purpose misunderstandings where Republicans get it wrong to their advantage.

The facts: a letter from the National School Boards Association to US Attorney General Garland last fall argued that some violent threats against school officials “could be
the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism” that would warrant the intervention of federal law enforcement. In his response, Garland directed his agency to review strategies to address violent threats and harassment against school boards.

Violent threats against school officials. Harassment. See the difference? Not just asking a question. Not just complaining.  Yet the Iowa Press panel said nothing, did nothing, let it stand.

If journalists do not question or challenge elected officials, what are viewers supposed to believe? Are they going to think their representative is lying? No, why should they? After all, it was said on Iowa Press celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, a longstanding Iowa tradition. It was said on Iowa Public Television – not cable news, not right wing media, not the internet. Republican lies and distortions are happening weekly on Iowa Press with only the lamest attempts to challenge them.

How they interact with Democrats on the show and how they interact with Republicans is a stark contrast. One viewer described it this way when Mariannette Miller-Meeks was on
the program: “They might as well have brought her hot chocolate and slippers.” Democratic ideas are met with derision and scorn. Republican talking points are represented by the panel in the absence of a Republican. Anyone can watch and see this week after week.

The Iowa Press program does more harm than good in my opinion. Helping Rs look good when they are defunding public schools, banning books, targeting the state auditor, passing voter suppression laws, taking away women’s rights, refusing federal dollars and stripping people of unemployment benefits they are entitled to, ignoring our polluted water, allowing big ag to run roughshod over everything. Oh, Rs didn’t get that terrible bill passed this year? Wait for it next year when the state gets even redder as Kim Reynolds has promised.

Iowa Press needs to update its format to match the times—or be cancelled.

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