Iowa Council Meeting Opens With Satanic Prayer

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Iowa Council Meeting Opens With Satanic Prayer?

Of the 19 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 0% are rated left, 0% are rated centre, 100% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.

Is Iowa Council Meeting Opens With Satanic Prayer left or right?

The story itself is neither. What can be counted is who has covered it, and 100% of the 19 rated outlets on it are rated right — so far this is a story carried mostly by the right. Coverage is still arriving and that can change, which is why the figure is dated rather than fixed.

Is the coverage of Iowa Council Meeting Opens With Satanic Prayer biased?

Iowa Council Meeting Opens With Satanic Prayer is one event reported by 19 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.

Which side is not reporting Iowa Council Meeting Opens With Satanic Prayer?

When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.

Which outlets covered Iowa Council Meeting Opens With Satanic Prayer?

19 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.

What happened at the Ottumwa City Council meeting?

A former council member, Matt Dalbey, read a satanic prayer during the invocation at the start of the meeting. The prayer included phrases like "Dear dark father" and "Hail Satan," which prompted outrage from a local pastor and a moment of silence called by the mayor.

Who was involved in the prayer incident?

Matt Dalbey, a former Ottumwa City Council member, read the satanic prayer. Pastor Rick Bick reacted to the prayer, and Mayor Benjamin Foote called for a moment of silence in response.

What was the prayer about?

The prayer included references to "Dear dark father" and "Hail Satan." It also called for embracing "Luciferianian impulse to eat at the tree of knowledge" and judging individuals by concrete actions rather than arbitrary social norms.