OPINION
The
Chronicle
Ernest H. Pitt Publisher/Co- Founder
Elaine PlTT Business Manager
Michael A. Pitt Markenng
T. Kevin Walker Managing Editor
What's
wrong with
good news?
T.Kevin
Walker
Managing
Editor
The call from my big
brother during the wee hours
of the morning one day last
week, sent my heart racing.
My thoughts immediately
went to my precious seven
month-old niece, Mia.
"What's wrong?" 1
exclaimed without the cus
tomary "hello."
"Isn't Ernie Pitt your
boss?" he asked.
Relieved, I answered
'yes," and since I knew his?
lext question, I followed up 1
with: "Yeah, he's going 1
through some hard times right
now." (Hard times is putting it
lightly; he has been indicted
by the feds on several
charges).
"So what's up with the
paper?" my bruh asked.
"What are ya'll going to do?"
"The same thing that we
have always done," I told him.
"Nothing's changed."
If I needed proof that news
of Pitt's ordeal has in fact
reached every nook and cran
ny of the city, I got it when
my brother called. While we
both hover well over six-feet
and share a fondness for loud
music, our similarities end
there. I am a natural-born
news hound. My brother, on
the other hand, prefers ESPN
to CNN, Sports Illustrated to
Newsweek.
I meant every word of my
vow to my brother. The
Chronicle isn't going to
change what it has always
done or alter its brand of com
munity news in any way! So
those of you waiting for this
paper to do a feature on Pitt
and his tussle with the feds,
don't hold your breath.
As the person here who
makes ALL editorial decisions
(I really, really do), 1 am not
avoiding the story because it
involves Pitt - who I admit
tedly do greatly respect
despite our many head-butting
battles. He. in fact, wanted the
paper to cover the story to
show the community that he
and we have nothing to hide.
But the buck stops here, and I
have decided that The
Chronicle will not deviate
from what we do each week.
Unlike area television sta
tions (no offense), The
Chronicle doesn't look to
daily newspapers to figure out
what news is relevant. The
Winston-Salem Journal has
been all over this story, of
course. Like mo?t media out
lets, that paper follows the
mantra - "If it bleeds, it leads
and if it's black - attack."
We have never followed.
Instead, we have played the
leader in covering stories that
the Journal wouldn't touch
with a 24-foot pole. We pride
ourselves on showing our
community at its best. Yes, we
are in the business of "good
news," and we are proud of it.
We'll let the other paper
chase the ambulances and
stalk around courthouses and
police stations.
Why is it strange that we
would rather report about
black men breaking barriers
(page A 12) instead breaking
and entering? Is it disingenu
ous that we would rather pro
file black women empowering
themselves (page B7) rather
than degrading themselves?
Are we biased and journalisti
cally unethical because we
prefer publishing our young
people's graduation photos
rather than their police
mugshots? If so, those are
labels that we wear proudly.
Our dedicated readers
know what we are all about.
You all know that you didn't
see stories scrolled across our
pages when a former high
school principal was faced
with criminal charges or when
a former television anchor
was tried and sent off to
prison. Those weren't
Chronicle stories, and neither
is the one involving Ernie
Pitt.
Apparently, "good news"
goes a long way these days.
Because of you, our readers,
today. The Chronicle has its
highest circulation of its 34
year history. We are grateful
for that, especially since daily
papers are apparently turning
off readers with their bad
news and experiencing plung
ing readership as a result.
Thank all of you for the
support that you have given to
The Chronicle over the years
and a special thank you to
those who have reached out in
the last few weeks with your
kind words and other signs of
encouragement.
Yes, Ernie Pitt has a fight
on his hand - but it is not his
first and likely won't be his
last. When he founded this
paper more than three decades
ago, he always intended for its
mission to become greater
than just one man, and his
wish has come true.
With that said. I'll tell all
of you what I told my brother,
"Nothing's changed," here.
Read us every Thursday for
the "good news" and if you
want the bad news ... well,
you know where to get that
too.
- KW
TELL ME
AGAIN WHAT
rr IVAQ LIKE
BEFORE 91W- .
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Democrats blowing
another election
After closely monitoring presidential campaigns since 1968,
I am now convinced more than ever that though the Democrats
are usually masterful in the congressional politics arena, but
Bailey
when it comes to presidential
politics, they are just slightly
Peter above amateurs.
In campaign after campaign,
except the two handled and won
by Bill Clinton, the Democrats
have lost to Republicans who
are not exactly rocket scientists.
Their problems begin with
the scheduling of their national
convention. For some inexplicable reason, the Democrats always
hold their convention first, thus providing the Republicans with
the decided advantage of closely monitoring the Democratic con
vention and then adjusting their convention accordingly. The
2008 convention provides a classic example of why convening
last is a plus.
I am convinced that after watching how upset many of the
White women were, John McCain was inspired to choose Alaska
Gov. Sarah Palin as his potential vice-president.
If the Republicans had convened first, it is a great possibility
that he would have chosen someone else, probably a man.
Instead he seized the opportunity to select a White woman who:
has been a mayor and a governor, is a mother of five children,
one with special needs, another
being a 17-year old pregnant
teenager, and still another off to
combat in Iraq. Her 'selection is
practically all everyone has
been talking about for going on
two weeks.
Gov. Palin now has a similar
position to the one held by Sen.
Obama in his primary campaign
against Sen. Clinton.
Accusations of racism were
hurled at any White person who
opposed Sen. Obama, not by the
candidate himself but by numer
ous of his campaign operatives
and supporters. Now Gov.
Palin's operatives and support
ers are poised to hurl charges of
"sexism" at anyone who oppos
es her right-wing ideological
positions.
Many Black people have
given Sen. Obama a blank check
to do whatever is necessary to
win; many White people are
probably going to give Gov.
Palin a similar blank check
because they want to see a
White woman as Vice-President
rather than a Black man as
President.
Having no faith in the intelligence of the American electorate,
for over a year I have been saying that if the Democrats nominat
ed Sen. Clinton or Sen. Obama as their 2008 presidential candi
date, they were basically conceding the election to the
Republicans. My position that the Democrats are about to blow
another election has not changed.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The only segments I watched of the Democratic and
Republican conventions were the speeches of Michelle Obama.
Sen. Clinton, Bill Clinton, Gov. Palin, and Sen. McCain. Mrs.
Obama came off as eloquent, warm, and real when speaking
about her family, much less so when speaking about the condi
tion of America; Sen. Clinton's speech was not quite convincing
to my ears but she did direct a profound question to her support
ers who were still un- enthused about Sen. Obama:
"Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for
that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that
mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in
it for that boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage?
Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisi
ble?"
Many of her supporters have yet to be asked to answer that
intriguing question by members of the traditional press.
Bill Clinton provided a well-crafted, flawless analysis of the
destructiveness of the Bush administration but he spoke in such
a clinical style it gave me the impression that he still does not
believe that Sen. Obama is qualified to be President of the U.S.
Gov. Palin showed that she should not be underestimated
because she is a skillful, ruthless political operative. The speech
es by Senators Obama and McCain basically confirmed my
belief that they are conventional politicians who have neither the
vision nor wisdom to usher in the change they repeatedly talk
about. There was not a memorable line or phrase in the presenta
tions delivered between the two of them. They would both be an
improvement over the Bush administration but that does not
require very much skill.
0
A. Peter Bailey is a noted commentator and activist.
Media serve as
sidekick to McCain
Pennsylvania Gov. Robert Casey, noting that Senator John
McCain supported George W. Bush 90 percent of the time in the last
session of Congress, got it right when he told delegates to the
George
Curry
Guest
Columnist
in fact, he is anything but that.
Democratic National Convention
in Denver: "That's not a maverick,
that's a sidekick."
Unfortunately, the corporate
media - translation: White-owned
media - has decided to become an
unabashed sidekick to Bush's side
kick,, Fawning journalists have
abandoned their supposedly
"objective" roles and are portray
ing McCain as a maverick when.
The selection of Sarah Palin as McCain's running mate has fueled
even more of this nonsense. A column in Sunday's San Francisco
Chronicle, for example, was headlined: "GOP resulting as party of
mavericks." A day after McCain announced his VP pick, a
Washington Post headline proclaimed: "With Pick, McCain reclaims
His Maverick Image." On "Meet the Press," Andrea Mitchell declared
that McCain "has returned to the original John McCain, the maver
ick."
NBC host Chris Matthews accurately stated, "The press loves
McCain. We're his base." As Peter Hart observes in an article in
"Extra!" the publication of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
(rAlK), A canaiaate couia omy gci away wun
such an elabaorate and long-running con with
the media as willing accomplices."
Hart credits CBS's "60 Minutes" with ele
vating the myth that McCain is a maverick. In
1997, it ran a segment titled, "The Maverick
from Arizona." Even crusty newscaster Mike
Wallace told the Washington Post , "I'm think
ing I may quit my job if he gets the nomina
tion."
Bob Schieffer, another CBS broadcaster,
called McCain "the most famous maverick of
the last half of the 20th century." Not to be out
done. Time magazine characterized McCain as
"a free-ranging, fence-jumping, kick-the-coral
maverick."
The problem with such unceasing cheer
leading - in addition to destroying any sem
blance of fairness - is that such bias carries
over into analyzing the candidate's record.
Consequently, McCain ends up getting a free
ride even when he contradicts himself.
Peter Hart of FAIR noted, "For a more typ
ical politician, McCain's myriad flip-flops
would be a serious liability. But McCain most
ly manages to get along just fine. Next to his
turnabout on Jerry Falwell, McCain's highest
profile reversal might be on Bush's tax cuts.
McCain bucked the White House by voting
against both the 2001 and 2003 packages,
pointing out that they were tilted in favor of the
wealthy. In the 2008 campaign, McCain is run
ning in support of extending the very same tax cuts. McCain's cam
paign talking point now is that he opposed the cuts because they were
not accompanied by spending cuts, a boldly disingenuous argument
that is rarely challenged by the press corps. (The Associated Press was
one notable exception -1/31/08.)"
-Hart continued, "McCain has even managed a flip-flop on one of
his signature issues? immigration policy. Though he was cheered by
some pundits for co-sponsoring legislation with liberal Sen. Edward
Kennedy (D-Mass.), McCain would eventually distance himself from
that bill. On NBC's Meet the Press (1/27/08), he tried to avoid
answering a direct question about whether he would sign his very own
bill as president, saying the 'bill is dead as it is written' and that 'the
lesson is they want the border secured first.' The 'they' he's speaking
of would seem to be the right-wing of the party, whom McCain had
angered by resisting such 'security first' demands for many months."
It's interesting how the corporate media tries to cover for McCain
when he can't cover for himself.
Consider the following account from FAIR:
"... McCain was asked? aboard the Straight Talk Express, no less
- an extraordinarily straightforward question: 'Do you think contra
ceptives help stop the spread of HIV?'
"McCain responded by saying, 'You've stumped me.' When the
questioner offered some help ('I mean, I think you'd probably agree
it probably does help stop it?'), McCain still wasn't able to offer a
response: I'm not informed enough on it. Let me find out. You know,
I'm sure I've taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what
my position was. Brian, would you find out wh^my position is on
contraception? I'm sure I'm opposed to government spending on it,
I'm sure I support the president's policies on it.
"McCain would go on to plead with an aide to 'get me [Sen. Tom]
Coburn's thing' to figure out his position. New York Times reporter
Adam Nagourney wrote on the paper's website (3/16/07) 'that this
went on for a few more moments until a reporter from the Chicago
Tribune broke in and asked Mr. McCain about the weight of a pig that
he saw at the Iowa State Fair last year.'"
George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine and
the NNPA News Service, is a keynote speaker, moderator, and media
coach. He can he reached through his Web site,
Hww.georgecurry.com .