Tea Party tempest gets ugly and unproductive
Tuesday, April 14, 2009 | 1:15 pm
Over the past day, “Tea Party” organizers and supporters have scolded and threatened this newspaper for refusing to cover Wednesday’s tax protest. One partisan website even resorted to adolescent name-calling.
Just one problem: We expect to cover it.
We always have.
For the record, let me share my response to one of the e-mails we got:
The demonstration has been on our coverage schedule for some time
Admittedly, every day is a fresh day in the news business – and we rarely guarantee coverage: not of press conferences, not of sporting events, not of demonstrations (whatever the cause).
It isn’t the policy of any news organizations that I know to publicize their coverage commitments – positive or negative – in advance. We make hour-to-hour decisions based on the opportunities, interest and needs.
Is it likely? We covered the smaller Monroe Tea Party (despite some unfounded claims to the contrary)
Story one, Story two). And we expect to cover tomorrow’s Tea Party
Those people who purport to "know" that The Herald will not be there are spreading an untruth. This is an ugly act that does their cause no good.
We cover all of Snohomish County, and many community organizations manage to get their programs and events into The Herald without resorting to phone and e-mail campaigns making threatening demands or spreading untruths.
Tea Party organizers should decide whether it is more important to vent their disrespect for local journalists – or to focus on moving the public debate forward on issues of taxation and public debt.
Just one problem: We expect to cover it.
We always have.
For the record, let me share my response to one of the e-mails we got:
The demonstration has been on our coverage schedule for some time
Admittedly, every day is a fresh day in the news business – and we rarely guarantee coverage: not of press conferences, not of sporting events, not of demonstrations (whatever the cause).
It isn’t the policy of any news organizations that I know to publicize their coverage commitments – positive or negative – in advance. We make hour-to-hour decisions based on the opportunities, interest and needs.
Is it likely? We covered the smaller Monroe Tea Party (despite some unfounded claims to the contrary)
Story one, Story two). And we expect to cover tomorrow’s Tea Party
Those people who purport to "know" that The Herald will not be there are spreading an untruth. This is an ugly act that does their cause no good.
We cover all of Snohomish County, and many community organizations manage to get their programs and events into The Herald without resorting to phone and e-mail campaigns making threatening demands or spreading untruths.
Tea Party organizers should decide whether it is more important to vent their disrespect for local journalists – or to focus on moving the public debate forward on issues of taxation and public debt.
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