In political spin, wording and phrasing are very crucial. No one on either side of the political spectrum will disagree, that how poll questions are framed, or what words are used to report a story, can elicit a desired result.

The Missouri Political News Service’s first ever “Spin Job of the day” award is shamefully given to Missourinet reporter Laura McNamara. McNamara uses an almost archaic term to describe a citizens volunteer organization recently formed to help the Cole County Authorities during a time of emergency. She continually refers to the volunteers as a “posse” during her audio report. The last time I head the word posse, I was probably watching a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western. The word posse also brings to my mind memories of our country’s shameful past, a past where posse often meant mob justice at the end of a rope.

She attributes the term to Cole County Sheriff Greg Wright several times during the report. Ms. McNamara’s written report with the headlines, “Cole County Sheriff Forms Posse of Citizen Volunteers” said the following:

“Sheriff Greg White says citizen volunteers are recieving training in various emergency response skills such as first aid, C-P-R, damage assessment, even skills in locating evidence.”

Sheriff White never says posse during the audio interview nor does McNamara write it on the website article. He seems to be calling them “citizen volunteers.” The Missouri Political News Service asks: Was is such a slow news day yesterday that Missourinet felt it needed inflammatory headlines to get noticed? Read more…

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