Locker Room’s Rick Henderson reports that state Sen. Fletcher Hartsell has subpoenaed material from UNC-TV for several news segments it was going to run on the Alcoa Dam, which is fending off a state takeover that would make Hugo Chavez proud.
Remember that those advocating for state takeover of Alcoa are using the company’s alleged pollution of the Yadkin River as justification. With that in mind, it will be interesting to see what’s in the video, because I personally can’t imagine UNC-TV running a piece that will cast Alcoa in a favorable light. I could be wrong and that would seriously undermine the case for the takeover.
Alcoa doesn’t seem too worried, Hartsell by asking if brazenly asking if Hartsell’s “next step is to try and seize UNC-TV’s FCC license.”
Update: The N&R editorializes, saying “maybe (the Senate committee) was trying to pressure UNC-TV to slant its program toward the committee’s point of view — a particularly noxious possibility,” while JLF president John Hood says North Carolina politicians and journalists of all stripes should snap to attention, unite as one voice, and tell Fletcher Hartsell and his Senate colleagues that their thuggish tactics will not be tolerated in a free society.”
