The Citizen-Times editorial linked off of Carolina Journal regarding Rep. Charles Taylor is a perfect display of print media’s elitist attitudes.? They open up their fiery attack by barking, “It?s time for Congressman Charles Taylor to speak frankly with his constituents about his connections to political lobbyist Jack Abramoff.”
In the commentary they insist, “Taylor?s office referred calls from reporters about the e-mails to a former staff member, Roger France, who declined to comment. Otherwise, neither the congressman nor members of his staff have been available to talk about the implications of the e-mails. The congressman owes his constituents an explanation, if there is one, as to why they shouldn?t jump to conclusions he would rather not have them reach.”
This could not be further from the truth. Rep. Taylor was on my “Take A Stand!” program within 24 hours of?me covering the story on air.?He first gave a statement to the public and then I went about grilling him with tough questions for nearly 20 minutes about this matter. He offered his explanations and accounts of things in great detail. Some callers to the show were not satisfied by his answers but most were.
What the Citizen-Times is really upset about is that?Taylor and his staff haven’t talked to THEM.? They say, “The congressman owes his constituents an explanation…” He gave one!? They say, “…neither the congressman nor members of his staff have been available to talk about the implications…” They have! And?Taylor got a tougher grilling on live radio then he would have in a newspaper editorial board room. But the Citizen-Times won’t count a nearly half hour live talk radio appearance as ‘talking to his constituents’ about the matter. To them, and many other relic newspapers, THEY are the only REAL news medium.? They’ll take the lazy way out of saying ‘well that’s a friendly environment’. They KNOW my radio show and they KNOW that is a flat out lie – nobody gets a free ride on my show. Nobody!
Again – the Citizen-Times is?simply having a temper tantrum that Taylor hasn’t talked to THEM.?No matter who he talks to in the press, if he doesn’t come crawling to them specifically, they’ll continue to say he’s hiding and locking down. In their elitist minds – they are the ONLY press. This is not the first time this has happened with the ACT… there have been other instances where we cover issues or talk to people on WWNC that they insist haven’t talked to the public.
And they wonder why people accuse them of having a?liberaly biased agenda and why they continue to lose?business to talk radio, the internet and alternative media publications.
