Okay, so it’s a little hyperbole. But these folks are behaving like news-reporting amateurs, making the world safe for suckers.

One of my local TV stations, WTAJ TV-10, aired a report on our latest State senator, a fellow named John Eichelberger. Now, Eichelberger calls himself a conservative Republican, and he has done so for many years. However he wants to describe himself is his business, but the TV station ought not to take his claims.

The report, going as straight news, asserted that Eichelberger ran promising to cut government spending. It’s a vague promise, but it sounds good. The report claimed that Eichelberger had kept his promise and cut government spending. It did not say what spending he had cut or how much. As far as I know, no spending has yet been cut anywhere, least of all by an freshman senator, so it TV-10 is spreading John Eichelberger’s propaganda, his garbage. The TV station owes us specifics.

The report, going as straight news, indicated that Eichelberger had angered some lawmakers because he cut spending. It named no lawmaker. Eichelberger said he was happy to have angered those lawmakers in the pursuit of his promises. Which lawmakers? The TV station owes us names and specifics. We got none of that from this report.

If you’ve read my stuff here, at RedState.com, or wherever else I was in the past, you know that I support conservatism and the national Republican Party. If you’ve followed my stuff at Rathergate.com, you know that I’ve been skeptical of the media.

The TV station celebrated Eichelberger as a successful lawmaker, but they offered no proof of that or any of their other assertions. It can be argued that Eichelberger is a breath of fresh air after what we had before him, and I agree that a change was needed, but if all Eichelberger has been thus far is a different person than Bob Jubelirer, fine. Eichelberger has only begun to serve, so no one can fault him for accomplishing nothing so far. I can, however, complain that WTAJ has violate their public trust by turning nothing into something splendid. I am very disappointed.

I will celebrate Eichelberger when he does something right. He’s surrounded himself with some bright people, so this is indeed possible. I won’t believe the news of this from WTAJ, however. They are the suckers.

My caveat: I was on the air at WTAJ long before any of their current on-air personalities. I’ve spent long evenings in that building, writing news, reading from a teleprompter, etc. Sure, I was a kid at the time, but I still have that loyalty. But they do have to cut the crap.