Journalistic Integrity

I recently resubscribed to my local newspaper, Raleigh's News & Observer. It's only been about two weeks now and I'm thinking about dropping my subscription again.

Yesterday, I marched with about 150 other people in the rain as part of the International Day of Climate Action. We went to the Governor's Mansion to ask Beverly Perdue to stop Duke Power from building the Cliffside Coal Plant and to ask President Obama to take strong action to stop global warming.

The News & Observer reported that six people were arrested. No mention of the rest of us chanting across the street to show our support and gratitude for those were arrested. No mention of global warming. No mention of the other 5,200 plus events around the world. Our local TV station, WRAL, did a much better job.

Follow me below the fold for a discussion of local news coverage and what we should do about it.

Yesterday while at a campaign stop in SC, Governor Mitt Romney had a "heated" exchange with AP reporter Glen Johnson. The video can be found here.

Johnson interrupted Governor Romney's pontification on not having lobbyists "running" his campaign. Johnson observed that Ron Kaufman is a lobbyist and is a Senior Adviser to the Romney Campaign. Romney defended his point, not contesting that Kaufman was a lobbyist (he undeniably is) but saying that if Johnson had listened he said that there were no lobbyists "running" his campaign, citing his campaign manager and deputy campaign managers were not lobbyists. Romney later continued the confrontation and his staffers told Johnson that he should "Be Professional".

And they're right, Romney was mid-sentence when he was interrupted saying, "I don't have lobbyists tied to my..." and there are any innumerable ways that sentence could end.