Thanks, Joe

I just now caught up with outgoing N&R editor John Robinson’s post stating his paper’s coverage of the Greensboro City Council election was fair.

At first I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read this exchange between Robinson and Dr. Guarino regarding the tight District 4 race between incumbent Mary Rakestraw and challenger Cindy Hoffman:

Joe Guarino
November 11, 2011 – 9:58 am EST

Mary Rakestraw’s race was pretty close. She was hurt by biased coverage.

For the record, I think that Greensboro’s longstanding tradition of racial bloc voting was, by far, the biggest factor in this election. But I also think media bias played an important role.

John Robinson
November 11, 2011 – 10:49 am EST

Thanks, Joe. I would like to hear your specific thoughts on how we hurt Mary and helped Nancy. We didn’t write much about that race.

I scrolled through the thread looking –maybe I missed it— for any sign of sarcasm in Robinson’s comment. But the best I can tell the editor of local paper of record is admitting straight-faced that his newspaper didn’t write much about a tight race involving a controversial conservative council member and a liberal challenger whose campaign spent twice as much money.

Rakestraw ended up losing by 350 votes. One can’t help but think that if the N&R had covered the race —fairly, of course—- perhaps Rakestraw could have made up those extra votes.

One could also argue that Rakestraw lost in spite of Guarino’s extensive coverage. Whatever— I still give Joe thanks for doing the job the local paper should be doing.

Journal disses Occupy Winston-Salem

The Winston-Salem Journal says the City Council should deny Occupy Winston-Salem a campsite permit:

Councilman Derwin Montgomery, a member of the public safety committee, said, “We live in America, and in America, regardless of if you like what a person says, they have a right to express their opinion.”

We agree, and think most city residents would as well. But First Amendment rights don’t include a right to camp on public property for 15 days, potentially creating problems of public sanitation and safety. Ironically, the protesters pushing, in part, for better wages would be creating problems for police officers and firefighters who work hard for modest wages. Because of such expensive problems, officials in other cities, including New York, have ended camping by Occupy movements.

Allowing camping here would raise other questions as well, such as: Who else gets to camp? The homeless, who could argue they need camps more than anyone else, haven’t been allowed to set up large camps in the center of downtown. More protest groups might want to camp as well.

Glad to see the local paper of record at least gets it. I just cracked on Mayor Allen Joines and the council; hope they make me look bad.