Eltife Says TV Station Took His Condom Comments Out Of Context

A new Tyler-based blog is reporting that comments by State Senator Kevin Eltife (R-Tyler) about condom distribution by the University of Texas at Tyler’s University Health Clinic were taken out of context by ultra-conservative television station KLTV last month.

Blogger Ramsey Williams reports this following a call from Eltife after Williams earlier published a post about the story:

Well an interesting thing happened after I posted the blog links about the recent story that KLTV ran concerning condoms at UT Tyler; I got a call from none other than State Senator Kevin Eltife. We had a good conversation, apparently he has a google alert set up to let him know when his name goes out over the wire (actually that sounds like a neat feature I’ll have to check it out now) he saw my posts and that I lived here in Tyler and made it a point to call me and tell his side.

Essentially, KLTV took his statements out of context, and edited the interview to play up the controversy angle. Basically the things he has stated in a recent Patriot Talon Interview, he supports the idea of condoms being passed out at the clinic, he feels that any time public funds are involved tax payers should be made aware of what’s going on, he’s for transparency in government, that was the point he was trying to make to KLTV but they made it look like he was on a crusade against condoms being on a college campus. If this is correct then KLTV is even more guilty of engaging in yellow journalism than I had thought, originally I assumed that Eltife and KLTV were in cahoots to try and stir up some controversy for mutual benefit, but now it seems that KLTV was just out for a sensational headline.

Interesting. Sadly, the Patriot-Talon, the student newspaper of UT Tyler, hasn’t updated their website since April, because I’d certainly like to see the article that inspired the KLTV coverage (or, perhaps, resulted from it–we’re not clear on that at present).

More:

I take the senator at his word, during our conversation he was sincere and honest, something that really surprised me from a politician. After doing a bit more checking, Eltife is regarded a moderate in political circles and the issues of governmental transparency is a good cause, I don’t think the UT Tyler Heath clinic was the best example to use for it, but I agree with the principal. Did he make some mistakes in talking to KLTV and playing their game? Yes, but he seems to have learned, one thing that he said that made a difference to me is that if he had known what there angle was on the story he would not have given the interview.

As someone who has watched KLTV’s coverage for the better part of the last couple of decades, I can’t say I’m surprised that the station took Eltife’s comments out of context, if that’s the case. As we noted in our previous coverage, KLTV is very right-wing and very religious-right leaning.

This is also a good time to note, as we have in the past, that the elected officials and candidates who are subjects of our stories are always welcome to contact us with any additional information, corrections, and tips. Contact info is here and listed in the sidebar under “Contact Information & Media Inquiries.”

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