Karl Rove Came Here

Karl Rove was only six miles away. My activism is more writing than demonstrating so I didn‘t go. Sometimes when we ignore others, they fade away. But that hasn’t worked with me . . . .

The newspaper the next day had a front page spread with a picture of Mr. Rove and a substantial report on what he said to several hundred Republicans. I didn’t read that.

The newspaper also opened its middle section front page with a shorter article about the fifty or so demonstrators who stood along the highway near the motel banquet hall where Mr. Rove spoke. It had two pictures which included some of the signs made by the locals. Total space was about the same as the front page. I skimmed that to see if the local sheriff had gotten involved in removing the protesters as he did when Governor Jeb Bush gave a speech at a local public center. He hadn’t, thankfully.

The letters to the editor exploded with a flurry of angry protests that the paper favored the protestors, that the paper was not being fair and balanced.

The editor, David Dunn-Rankin, responded today, giving the number of words in each story (634 words for Mr. Rove and 573 for the protesters). He went on to say the reporters in the banquet were kept behind a police yellow tape cordon. Neither Mr. Rove nor the Republicans came near them for interviews.

However, no such barriers or attitude prevented reporters from interviewing the protesters out on the highway. Mr. Dunn-Rankin opined that simply reporting what Mr. Rove said, something that’s been heard many times before, did not have the interest for local readers as did interviews with people on the street.

The Pulitzer Committee probably won’t recognize the CHARLOTTE SUN for covering this event and handling its aftermath as they did after the SUN covered Hurricane Charley (second place honors). But I think the paper (www.sun-herald.com) deserves a plug for what they did.