A forthnightly rant, FL-S style.
Let’s say local Republicans stage an event and the featured guests are Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, AG Bob McDonnell, Congressman Rob Wittman, and Speaker of the House Wild Bill Howell. Then let’s say a local GOP committee chair calls the FL-S and its political reporter Emily Battle to see if they would be able to cover it.
Unless a bunch of frisky UMW co-eds had already contacted your hometown paper about a nude campus sit-in, to be held at the same date and time, it would be a metaphysical certitude that Emily Battle or another reporter accompanied by a photographer would be present.
Seems reasonable, right?
But join me as we enter the parallel universe. Now, let’s say local Democrats stage an event and the featured guests are Congressman Bobby Scott, Virginia Sen. Creigh Deeds, Democratic House Caucus Chair Del. Brian Moran, AG candidate Steve Shannon, and Virginia Sen. Edd Houck. Then let’s say a local Democratic committee chair calls the FL-S and its political reporter Emily Battle to see if they would be able to cover it.
Would Ms. Battle’s response assure FL-S coverage?
The answer to that question would be: FAT CHANCE. The Committee Chair would be told something akin to: nah, I don’t think so…
Actually, the Democratic version did happen. The Fredericksburg Democratic Committee chair, Amy LaMarca, called the FL-S to announce that three candidates for state-wide office in 2009 – two gubernatorial candidates and one attorney general candidate – would be in the ‘Burg to attend the Committee’s annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner. LaMarca assumed – given the Fredericksburg region’s growth and shifting political climate – that the paper would accept.
But alas, your hometown paper, this paragon of Fourth Estate excellence, passed on the opportunity.
“Nah sorry…weeeeeeeee, uh, we got a thing with the guy from the place, uhhhhhhhhh!” (Click.)
Like the sun rising in the East, I count on such contempt eminating daily from Amelia Street’s Combination Editorial Fun Factory and Bluster Machine. Yet, I am saddened to say the news department is still filtering viable stories through Editorial’s Red State Filter.
Local GOP? Goooooooood. Local Dems. Bad. Bad. Evil. Very bad.
Disappointing but not at all surprising. During my two-year stint as chair of the Stafford Democratic Committee, stories about the Committee appeared maybe once or twice. The only news story that appeared quoting me as chair had my name spelled wrong. To the Committee the absence of news coverage was just part of the caculus, something to be worked-around.
I can assure you the current Stafford Democratic chair’s GOP counter-part doesn’t experience such a paucity of news coverage.
F2B has been reporting on the FL-S’s utter contempt for balanced news reporting, hard work, and accuracy since our first post in November, 2007. They still must think that convicted spy Jonathan Pollard ran for State Senate, last year.
There’s nothing resembling balance in the offices at 616 Amelia Street. But, rest assured news junkies, you can count on the FL-S for saturation coverage of George W. Bush’s final visit to that suburban comedy club and tranny bar, before he leaves office…
Filed under: Local Media, Local Politics | Tagged: Del. Brian Moran, FL-S, Fredericksburg, Free Lance-Star, Sen. Creigh Deeds, Sen. Edd Houck, Stafford, U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott
Yeah. That’s almost as likely as, say, a network anchor like Charley Gibson asking Obama about his radical affiliations and lack of experience.
The FLS does a better job of covering Republicans (no accident, I’m sure) but their public affairs coverage in general is slight, particularly at the local level. What little they do is simply abysmal. The most important issues go completely ignored or (if you’re lucky) barely acknowledged. Are they TRYING to keep the public in the dark?
This area desperately needs a Web site that actually reports the important local issues in a balanced way. No reflection on you guys; you do your job well. It’s simply a different assignment.