What's up with the Channel 9, KUSA, reporter Shawn Patrick's report on last night's 10 p.m. newscast about the Colorado Democratic Party's bid for the 2008 national convention? It is this:

"Despite any economic impact, a spokesperson for Colorado's Republican Party says the leadership and message of the Democratic Party is the problem.

"They're going to come and talk about their defeatist strategy, raising taxes, and that's not the kind of message that resonates with people of Colorado," said Bryant Adams, communications director for Colorado Republicans."

The problem that I have with that piece is that it plays into the Republican talking points about the Democrats without any relevance to the story. If this were about "balanced" view points in the report then the correct reportage would have been to talk to the Democratic Party of Minnesota about the message of the Republicans and their national convention in Minneapolis.

This is endemic of major news outlets that have no sense of what is "balance" versus just publicizing bullshit about the Democratic Party because reporters, like Shawn Patrick thinks that balance is anything that the other side states without doing the hard work of fact checking.

I'm sure that Denver's hotel businesses are happy to read that because national political conventions bring in tens of millions of dollars of business and help any city promote itself not only to the nation but worldwide.

Email Shawn Patrick at KUSA, Channel 9, Denver, CO: shawn.patrick@9news.com

Let the station know of what you think at 9News Listens: 303.871.1499.

While you're at it call Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and let him know:
3-1-1 or 720-865-9000 or email: MileHighMayor@ci.denver.co.us

Please be polite and to the point.