Commentary

Roper: Former Democrat Speaker of the House named president of state’s most prominent news outlet

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VTDigger no longer bothering to hide the bias!

Gaye Symington and Sen. Sanders
Photo courtesy Sen. Bernie Sanders’ website

by Rob Roper

Vermont’s largest online news outlet, VTDigger, announced on December 7th (probably some irony there in the day that will live in infamy) that they brought on Gaye Symington to be the organization’s board president. Symington, of course, was a Democratic representative for twelve years and served as Speaker of the House from 2005 to 2009, responsible in that role for delivering the Democrats’ legislative agenda.  

In 2021, Emerge Vermont, which describes itself as having “a proven track record for getting Democratic women elected, offering training programs that deliver the skills, tools, and network necessary to run and win,” named Symington the winner of their Governor Madeleine M. Kunin Achievement Award.

Symington will helm a team led on the field by Editor in Chief Paul Heinz – who used to be Congressman Peter Welch’s communications director. So, there’s that, too.

If VT Digger ever really set out to be a fair and balanced news source, they are no longer trying. There’s no attempt to even hide it. “News in pursuit of Truth”? Yeah, right. More like “Propaganda in support of achieving the policy and electoral goals of the Democratic Party.”

I started BTL one day shy of 11 months ago with a mission To let Vermonters know what’s really going on behind the scenes of state government. Since then, I’ve posted 100 stories and created Over 75 videos, the results of watching hundreds of hours of committee hearings, Reading thousands of pages of bills and reports, and, of course, putting in the time to create this content. I couldn’t do this without reader support. Today’s story — which dramatically shows not only how bias our news in Vermont is, but how brazenly they shill for the parties in power — is why publications like BTL are so important. If you agree, and would like to see this project continue, Please consider upgrading to a paid subscriber. Already a paid subscriber, Thank You!

In the press release announcing Symington’s appointment, CEO Sky Barsh praised the new president’s … “unfailing commitment to fundraising.” Given Symington’s political background and pedigree, we can guess who she’ll be hitting up for big bucks and what those donor’s politics are.

Also worth noting, the press release discusses other changes at VT Digger, including a shift in priorities to “more reporting firepower on flood recovery, equity, substance use disorder, broadband deployment and the social safety net, among other topics. Not, you will observe, our economy, taxes and state spending, the housing crisis, the cost, quality, and safety of our education system, rising crime, energy policy, or even climate change policy – a good example of bias through omission.

Digger should be embarrassed to have a partisan politician leading their board. Their readers should be appalled. Are there enough grains of salt to take with their reporting as we enter a critical policy year for the legislature? Let’s hope more Vermonters start looking for alternative sources to get their information.

Rob Roper is a freelance writer who has been involved with Vermont politics and policy for over 20 years. This article reprinted with permission from Behind the Lines: Rob Roper on Vermont Politics, robertroper.substack.com

Categories: Commentary, Media

13 replies »

  2. The Day they took down their “comments section” was the day I stopped paying attention to them. Too bad, the work they did on EB5 and Jay Peak was decent.
    But that was quite a while ago. Like the State of Vermont, VT Digger’s payroll for
    the one-side journalism is bloated and un-sustainable it soon will go away.

  3. Oh my gosh….is this really true? That wings of a new Overlord can be heard flapping at VT Digger? Has Vermont become Transylvania? Well, come to think of it, maybe so!

  4. I have to ask: Why is there only one person of color on the Board of Directors and none on their staff (source: their website)? How does this reflect on their social credit score? Why are they not elevating minorities to board positions or any on staff? I find this very troubling and they should be investigated by the Department of DEI immediately. Tsk, tsk.

  6. Vermont Digger is a lobbyist group for the VDP.

    They need to be registered as lobbyists, they are a political operative group hiding behind the guise of a non-profit. This is how the VDP keeps control in Vermont, this is how they fund their operations.

    Planned Parenthood, another political operative, funded the entire VDP….through their PAC, which was funded by the tax payers, by our governor when he replenished the funds to Planned Parenthood, with your tax dollars.

    Vermont is more corrupt than Washington D.C. and that says alot.

    All these not for profit organizations funding the VDP, it’s not a coincidence!

    Oh and how could I forget them, buying a congress woman for a million dollars of corrupt money from Freidman…..how can you say Balint bought and paid for ?

  7. They are nothing but a propaganda arm for the left. Not only what they say but what they choose to cover is completely partisan.

    • Which is absolutely to the delight of their readers! Vermont’s elitist crown absolutely delight in being regaled by the stories and pretending published by vt digger. Rarely since 2016 has digger published articles detailing issues of importance to Vermont’s citizens- unless the article deals with woke and social justice issues. Much like how the CIA uses the Washington Post, Vermont’s political elites use vt digger as their propaganda outlet, to obfuscate and pretend. True journalism is a dying craft and avocation everywhere, Vermont’s “news” outlets seem to be leading in the demise of honest reporting.
      The change in tone and editorial style at digger and seven days changed immediately prior cessation of reader comments.