Here’s a link to a page that WFAE in Charlotte does not want you to see.

It is an entry on Tara Servatius’ blog from a couple weeks ago mentioning an interview WFAE did with the author of the UNCC transit study much in the news.

If you read the Google cache of the post, interesting stuff. Points to WFAE. Newsworthy interview. You’d think WFAE would be happy.

I’ll let Tara pick it up here with an addition to her original post made yesterday:

This blog entry has been censored by the supposedly “public” radio station WFAE. WFAE Program Director Paul Stribling objected to my use of the term “fawning” to describe Charlotte Talks’ Host Mike Collins’ interview with UNCC Professor Edd Hauser, in which Collins trashed the supporters of the half-cent sales tax repeal. Stribling insists Collins is neutral and apparently doesn’t want you to read anything to the contrary, or to use links to the station’s website to listen to the May 21 interview and decide for yourself.

The choice Stribling gave me was to either take the word “fawning” out of the following entry, or remove the links to the publicly funded station’s website. Stribling faulted me for not initially seeking the station’s permission to link to the website, which he says contains copyrighted material. But when I asked for permission, he again insisted that I remove the word “fawning” before I use the links. So permission to link to the “public” station’s site is apparently predicated on pre-approval of any web content containing the link.

Unlike WFAE, I’m committed to editorial freedom, so for now I’m removing the links, not the descriptive editorial term WFAE objects to. The links to the May 21 show will be republished in a new blog editorial to be published tomorrow, July 3. For now, you can find the link to the May 21 show by entering “WFAE” into your search engine and then clicking on Charlotte Talks. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Weird, huh? Gets weirder.

Stribling sent an email to me about noon on Monday also on the topic of linking to WFAE. Meck Deck has linked several times to WFAE pages, which would seem to make sense in as much as I was a guest on the station the other week, not to mention WFAE’s role in the very newsworthy topic of the UNCC study and its questionable origins.

So questionable, in fact, WFAE hosted Edd Hauser for another session with Mike Collins on Monday, one which was decidedly less fawning. And after which Stribling more or less immediately tries to set the ground-rules for covering and linking to his station’s site from other sites.

I answered Stribling late last night seeking more info on exactly what he wanted, but as yet I’ve heard nothing back. Nor have I had a chance to delve into the Hauser II interview in any detail, but I will shortly.

My findings will be posted on Meck Deck. With links.