The Arizona senator, who filed a restraining order against a reporter, has a history of defaming journalists.
Last week, the Coconino County Magistrate told Republican Senator Wendy Rogers (Flagstaff), protection order The Arizona State Capitol told Times Senator Camryn Sanchez to tell journalists not to contact Rogers at her residence.
Rogers, a state senator who has called white supremacists “patriots” and called for political opponents to be executed, regularly insults and criticizes those she describes as “liberal reporters.”But she defended right-wing conspiracy theorist and media personality Alex Jones last year after he was ordered to pay $49 million in damages To the parents of the 6-year-old who was killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Massacre after falsely reporting that the shooting was faked.
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Although Rogers has defended Jones, she has criticized and hurled insults at local journalism outlets such as the Arizona Republic, the Arizona Mirror, and Voughtbeat. ridicule, Derogatory Names You May Encounter on Elementary School Playgrounds.
In the process of investigating whether Rogers actually lives in Flagstaff, which she represents, or in Chandler and Tempe’s house outside the district, Rogers finds out that Sanchez is a senator’s resident in Maricopa County. After visiting two homes, I applied for a protection order.
Senators claimed that Sanchez had stalked Rogers and her neighbors, and that Rogers was concerned for her safety. The behavior was typical of a news reporter writing an article.
“News reporters like Sanchez have the right to investigate issues related to elected officials, and that’s exactly what Sanchez has done,” said Michael Sánchez, publisher of the Arizona Capitol Times. Gorman said in a statement.
Rogers also asked for Sanchez to be barred from the state Senate, but the judge denied the request.
“This indicates that the petition and injunction are not about the senator’s personal safety, but about silencing the media in direct violation of the First Amendment.
The Capitol Times plans to challenge the injunction on behalf of Sanchez at a court hearing scheduled for May 10.
Answering questions from reporters is generally considered part of the regular job of an elected official. Rogers does not generally respond to requests for interviews or comments from members of the traditional media.
On January 8, 2021, when then-local reporter Adam Waltz asked Rogers for an interview on Twitter, Rogers replied, “I don’t talk to reporters on the left.” She then asked him if he was being bribed to cover her story and told him to email her his questions.
I don’t speak to left-wing journalists. Are you paying to cover this story? Please feel free to contact us by email. I have a question for you. I may reply, or I may not. [email protected] https://t.co/znJaBdxBa7
— Wendy Rogers (@WendyRogersAZ) January 8, 2021
In a Twitter post about the restraining order, Rogers called Sanchez’s doorknock “creepy.”
‘What they did to Alex Jones was wrong,’ says Rodgers Posted in Truth Social August 6, 2022. Kangaroo court already convicted him before the trial began, so I hope he appeals. Americans should help cover his bills. “
In November, Jones sued the Infowars host for defamation for sharing a false story that the shooting was hoaxed by the federal government, after which the families of the children killed in the shooting totaled about 100,000. I was ordered to pay $1 billion.
Rogers has a habit of claiming media he dislikes, Includes Arizona Mirrorwhich is funded by George Soros, employs the anti-Semitic trope that Jewish billionaires and philanthropists somehow dictate their coverage. Rogers also tends to label people with whom she disagrees as communists, including journalists.
Arizona antichristian Soros news agency attacks flagstaff granny. Pretty weak and pathetic.
— Wendy Rogers (@WendyRogersAZ) February 26, 2022
Arizona is getting redder #fake news Reporters are leaving for other, more communist states.
— Wendy Rogers (@WendyRogersAZ) February 7, 2022
Like other conservatives, Rogers started Criticizing Fox Newswhich has long been the favorite mainstream network of people on the right.
She last year called the network “fake news,” a derogatory name coined by liberals, and said that the network promoted child gender reassignment and that in the November election in Arizona she was “#fullblownMAGA.” accused of disrespecting what he called a “victory.”Republican Statewide Candidate lost some famous racesincluding bids for governor and the U.S. Senate.
MAGA loses third straight election in Arizona
Rogers sometimes lashes out at journalists in general rather than targeting specific mainstream media.
Posted on Telegram on Sept. 2, 2022 by Rogers posted a good night message “Except ignorant, qualified and arrogant reporter, my 1A condemns free speech, but does not honor the blood and treasure sacrificed to speak as one pleases.”
Rogers, on the other hand, has spent much of his time promoting or praising people working in right-wing media such as: Jordan Conradson of the Gateway Pundit sharing the unproven claims As if those were the facts, including that the 2022 election results in Arizona were “corrupted.”
Conradson wrote some stories Of Rogers’ restraining order against Sanchez, he said after news of the restraining order broke, “the Arizona Democratic Media Complex launched a full-scale assault on Rogers.” Conradsona former Republican political operative, called Sanchez a “reporter stalker.”
Rodgers took to the social media space to praise far-right conspiracy theorist Stew Peters, calling him a “pioneering media personality fighting for the common people.”Peters is a leader in spreading misinformation about COVID-19 and Anthony Fauci must runPeters also released two videos highlighting the outlandish falsehood that COVID-19 is unreal. Caused by snake venom Injected into public water supplies, the COVID-19 vaccine causes sudden death.
By telegram, Rogers recognized her tendencies She “gives the benefit of the doubt” to those who agree with her politically, while sharply criticizing those who do not.
Rogers did not respond to a request for comment for this article. Capitol Times executive his editor Gary Grado said he could not comment, but gave the Mirror a statement from the paper’s publisher.
