In war, the first casualty is truth. Dave Brown, the Trib reporter, rang the bell loud and clear on that front, again, with this story.
The ballot for the Mayor's race is determined. However, the coverage of all the candidates is absent. Brown missed most of the options in his reporting.
Objectivity matters.
The Socialist didn't get ink -- and the socialist are often right from the ranks of labor. The Green didn't get ink. Nor did the Indie.
The other kisses of death for the Republican -- the 5-1 outnumbering and the seven decade streak also got bigger mentions than both the people involved and the issues. It is nearly impossible to make history when those in the media -- even from conservative papers -- are a slave of history.
Pittsburgh's downward spiral picks up speed with coverage and reporting that include watchdog acts such as this.
Campaign season starts - PittsburghLIVE.com: "Although the Pittsburgh mayor's race has been settled in the Democratic primary for seven decades, as registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a 5-1 ratio in the city, Republican nominee Joe Weinroth vows to run 'an aggressive campaign' against Democrat nominee Bob O'Connor. O'Connor, a former City Council member from Squirrel Hill, handily defeated six opponents in the May primary. Weinroth, a Squirrel Hill attorney, was unopposed for the GOP nomination.
'If Pittsburgh voters listen to my plan -- and vote without regard to party affiliation -- I can win hands down,' Weinroth said. 'It's going to be a positive campaign about the issues that are important to the people of Pittsburgh.'
O'Connor spokesman Dick Skrinjar said the Democrat is taking nothing for granted, although political odds-makers give Weinroth scant hope of pulling off an upset.
'We've spent all summer refining our agenda,' Skrinjar said. 'Now we want to reinforce and re-emphasize the message. The campaign is still based on Bob O'Connor's ability and experience to lead Pittsburgh.'
David M. Brown can be reached at dbrown@tribweb.com or (412) 380-5614.
The opposition leaders can't bring balance to the landscape and lead the city forward when the 4th estate is most concerned with looking into the rear view mirror with a telescope.
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4 comments:
Again, there's no reason to profile a Green Party, Socialist or Indy candidate who hasn't earned the need for attention. Just because a minor party candidate got their name on the ballot, they don't deserve newspaper publicity. Harry Frost was the Republican candidate in 1997 and he disappeared from the political landscape come fall. Ditto for Jim Carmine four years ago.
Unfortunately, Joe Weinroth hasn't done much to increase his visibility this summer...but he's still far above any third party or independent in this year's race.
Especially the dailies have absolutely no responsibility whatsoever to give publicity to candidates with no money, no ideas and less chance of getting .05 percent of the vote.
Tom, we differ a bit as to the responsibility of coverage when it comes to mentions of who is ballot and coverage by telling the whole story.
And, I have it on good authority that there were more gentleman / candidates at the parade than just the two mentioned.
There are lies and then there are lies of ommission.
Okay -- more.
Of course there is no reason to "PROFILE" the candidates who are not able to be seen after looking for them. But, I'm not talking about a profile. I'm talking about a mention.
Of course there shouldn't be a profile of these "non-candidates." In a former life I was the editor of community papers. Perhaps I would have mentioned them as an alternative to the dailies.
Especially in Pittsburgh, the spring election is considered the "real" election. That's why all of the non-candidates got all of the attention.
The Green and Socialist, as well as unknown D-list independents should get a questionnaire for the before-election Tuesday P-G, but unless they give reporters a reason to follow them, it's pandering to the "special interests" to give them any ink.
Ralph Nader was a "name" candidate who happened to run as the Green Party candidate. Absolutley no one cares about Joe Blow from Bloomfield running as a Socialist.
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