LAST WEEK, the nation was shocked to learn that Utah had executed a murderer with a firing squad.

But the shock was falsely generated, because so many of the reporters covering the event lied about it.

A case in point: The June 18 front-page story in The Monterey County Herald by Associated Press reporter Jennifer Dobner, which readers of the newspaper expected to contain a disinterested version of the facts surrounding the execution of Ronnie Lee Gardner. Instead, the story made it obvious that the reporter was personally outraged at the use of such a “barbaric” practice. In fact, her indignation was so deeply felt (and so sure was she that everyone would agree with her), she didn’t make the slightest effort to conceal her feelings, and used the opportunity to report about the execution of a cold-blooded killer to jump on the bandwagon with the minority of citizens in this country who think any use of the death penalty is abhorrent.

The most compelling thing about the execution of Gardner was that he chose to die by firing squad rather than lethal injection. But the reporter never even mentioned that the decision was his. Readers of her story would probably have been very interested to hear what Gardner’s lawyers, family members and advocates had to say about why he made that choice.

But the fact that the killer chose to die by firing squad would have gotten in the way of the reporter’s anti-death-penalty campaign. So she didn’t bring it up.

Instead, she sugarcoated Gardner’s crimes, pretended he was executed hurriedly, and even implied Gardner might have been innocent. Why was he sentenced to death? According to the story, it wasn’t because Gardner shot a lawyer while he was on trial for killing yet another innocent person (which is what happened). Instead, the AP said he was executed after a “conviction stemming from a fatal courthouse shooting.”

And while he committed the murder 26 years ago, the AP devoted several paragraphs to concerns from Gardner’s lawyers and supporters that his case had not gotten a “full and fair review.”

The story didn’t even bother to name Gardner’s victim, and didn’t include a single word from the victim’s family or from anyone in the public who thought his execution was justified. Instead, we learned all about the killer’s last meal, the movies he liked, his concern for his own family, and how he spent his final hours “focused on other people and programs he wanted to start, including one for at-risk youth.”

Why do we have the death penalty? Because most people think it’s an appropriate way to punish or simply get rid of the worst criminals. Despite being constantly told otherwise, they also think a death sentence has a significant deterrent effect — certainly more than a punishment of life in prison. Keep in mind that any state that wants to eliminate capital punishment can do so by passing simple legislation. Elected officials in almost every state have not done that, however, for the obvious reason that their constituents don’t want them to.

And the same thing is true on the federal level. Nobody who runs for president on an anti-death-penalty platform has a prayer of winning.

Reporters supposedly believe in democracy. Almost all news outlets purport to serve the public. Meanwhile, most people (in this country, anyway) believe the death penalty is appropriate for heinous murderers. Nevertheless, many reporters act like the opposite is true, and blithely assume that only a heartless cretin would want to see a killer put to death for his crimes.

And then they wonder why nobody trusts the news media.