Utah Sen. Mike Lee’s jabs at KSL continue — this time over the news outlet’s coverage of a transgender double homicide suspect in Washington City.
Lee was concerned, according to a video he posted Monday on X, formerly Twitter, that the outlet (like many others in Utah) referred to the suspect as a woman, and that doing so confused residents and compromised public safety. “Referring to a man as a woman can dangerously undermine public safety — especially when that man is a violent murderer on the run,” he said.
But in Lee’s own comments about the importance of accuracy, he got key details wrong.
He erred by saying the killings were carried out in St. George. They, instead, happened in Washington City, about five miles northeast of St. George. Lee also described the suspect, Mia Bailey, as 6-foot-1, whereas police described the suspect as 5-foot-10. Lee said Bailey was a man, while legal documents show she had her name and gender marker legally changed from male to female, and police noted she was transgender and “wears wigs and is known to change hairstyles frequently.”
This attack is Lee’s latest on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-owned KSL. University of Utah political science professor Josh McCrain told The Salt Lake Tribune that politicians attacking media organizations to solicit support or donations isn’t new, and politicians from both sides of the aisle take part. Liberals, he said, lash out at Fox News. Republicans assail CNN.
But, he said, his research has shown that Republican party’s assaults on the news media in the modern era, since the Trump administration, is different in that they explicitly target journalists as the enemy and try to make the party’s supporters “viscerally hate the media,” such that they will question all reporting, especially journalism that exposes wrongdoing.
“This is not good,” McCrain said. “This is dangerous to a functioning democracy.”
In this case, McCrain said Lee is being explicit and saying “these people can’t be trusted” when he himself is peddling disinformation.
“This is particularly problematic when we have few actual independent, local news sources left — especially in Utah, but also across the country,” he said. “It’s damaging to the public sphere to target this sort of vitriol toward a true independent local media outlet.”
Indeed, Lee concludes his video by saying that KSL’s reporting indicated “something is terribly wrong in our state,” and asked, “Why would they do that?”
“The desire to be liked by the chic and woke is destructive,” Lee said, answering his own question. “It’s destructive to our state and to our country, and I’m very, very concerned that KSL thinks this is OK. They need to clean house.”
When reached for comment, KSL representatives declined to comment. A spokesperson for Lee did not respond to The Salt Lake Tribune’s inquiry.
‘Media will use what law enforcement uses’
In his video, Lee referenced the June 18 deaths of Gail and Joseph Bailey, Mia Bailey’s parents. She is accused of fatally shooting them both at their Washington City home and firing a shot at her brother, who had locked himself in a basement bedroom when he heard the commotion upstairs, according to police documents.
Mia Bailey told investigators after her arrest, documents show, that she didn’t have remorse about the killings, saying, “I would do it again. I hate them.”
Lee has posted about the crime from his personal @BasedMikeLee account multiple times. Washington County prosecutors charged Mia Bailey, 28, with the killings on Friday. She was arrested around 8 a.m. on June 19, approximately 13 hours after Gail and Joseph Bailey were fatally shot. Though she was charged with aggravated murder, prosecutors chose not to seek the death penalty, court records show.
The uptick in criticism against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-owned radio station began after it posted on social media earlier this month that Utah GOP had “been running into tough times” and asked its followers if they were “tired of the Republican Party’s antics?”
Republicans, including Lee, have since derided the radio station and its affiliates, including KSL-TV.
Lee’s comments on the case come about a week after he asked his X followers in a poll if they would prefer listen to NPR for a day, listen to KSL for a day or be waterboarded. Most voters chose torture. A spokesperson for Lee told The Tribune at the time the post as a joke.
McCrain said the tactic of antagonizing impartial media is dangerous.
“The kind of vitriol coming from him against them, I think, is more just emblematic of where the Republican Party is at,” he added, “and what they think is useful to fire up the base.”
As for why Lee is targeting KSL and not other outlets, McCrain said he doesn’t know.
Most news organizations, including KSL, referred to Bailey as a woman or used female pronouns and other identifiers, noted she was transgender or had legally changed her gender marker and posted photos — released by police — during the search, showing Bailey both with longer and shorter hair.
GLAAD, a nonprofit LGBTQ advocacy organization, advises against using the term “transgender” in headlines. Instead, the organization said the individual’s gender should be clarified in the body of the article.
Republican state Rep. Kera Birkeland, who had insinuated days earlier that “harmful unnatural hormone concoctions” may have played a role in the homicides, responded to Lee on X, saying “to be fair” law enforcement provides information based on legal documents, like drivers’ licenses and birth certificates.
“What else can they use? Hearsay? And the media will use what law enforcement uses,” she said. “I think we need to look at the root of the problem.”
Hillary Koellner, Utah Department of Public Safety communications director, said the department had not issued statewide guidance for how law enforcement should disseminate public safety information in cases where an individual’s appearance or name may be in flux.
Further, she said, Lee’s criticism seemed to be focused on media coverage — not the police department. She encouraged The Tribune to speak with the Washington City Police Department, which did not respond.
Birkeland also did not respond to The Tribune’s requests for comment early Tuesday about if “look[ing] at the root of the problem” portended potential legislation she would support or run this upcoming session. However, if she is mulling a legislative move, the Utah Supreme Court left that door wide open when they ruled in favor of statewide access for those interested in changing their gender marker to comport with their gender identity (not their sex assigned at birth) on legal documents in May 2021. Prior to the ruling, some district court judges would grant the change, while others would not.
“In the end it is, as it should be, the legislature that has the last word,” Chief Justice Matthew B. Durrant in a concurring opinion. If lawmakers disagree, Durrant wrote, they “of course (have) the power to amend the statute or pass an altogether different statute.”
