As the SC Senate District 12 runoff campaign moves toward its end on Tuesday, June 24, Spartanburg’s Herald-Journal newspaper continues disregarding the truth in favor of biased reporting.
In articles published over the past few days, the newspaper’s reporters asserted support to a specific candidate from groups with which the newspaper has previously taken issue.
In a June 17th article titled “Sanford backing Bright for Senate,” Trevor Anderson wrote, “The common thread between Bright and Davis is that they are backed by S.C. Club for Growth, South Carolinians for Responsible Government and Conservatives in Action.” Anderson then inserted an editorialized nickname for those groups from a member of the county’s legislative delegation who otherwise had no reason for placement in the article.
In a June 18th article, “Bright heats up contest with Talley,” Robert Dalton, a reporter who consistently editorializes in news articles wrote that the five legislators who attended a news conference endorsing Lee Bright came because “they are supported by the same ‘out-of-state special interest groups’ backing Bright – the S.C. Club for Growth, South Carolinians for Responsible Government and Conservatives in Action.”
While we have not received any comments from the two of the three groups, after inquiring, Conservatives in Action’s spokesman sent us a copy of an e-mail he sent to reporter Trevor Anderson and Representative Scott Talley on June 17.
The e-mail in its entirety read:
Mr. Anderson,
I read your article today ”Sanford backing Bright for Senate,” and as Conservatives in Action’s spokesperson I felt the need to contact you about a major inaccuracy in your piece. Please note that I also copied Representative Talley on this message.
Among other things you stated, “The common thread between Bright and Davis is that they are backed by S.C. Club for Growth, South Carolinians for Responsible Government and Conservatives in Action.”
Please know that 1) As an educational organization, Conservatives in Action does not endorse or oppose political candidates and 2) Conservatives in Action has not allocated any resources for issue education in the Senate District 12 race. As a side note, Conservatives in Action was not involved in the Senate District 46 race between Senator Ceips and Tom Davis.
I wanted to clarify these points for both you and Representative Talley as matters of fairness and honesty, and I hope you can make the same clarification for your readers.
If you have any questions regarding Conservatives in Action’s activities, please feel free to contact me.
The spokesman said that Trevor Anderson did not inquire with Conservatives in Action about specific groups’ activities, and even after an attempted clarification was made, certain members of the newspaper’s political beat ignored the denial.
We made one inquiry to these groups and received an e-mail contradicting the newspaper’s “facts.” Why is the Herald-Journal jeopardizing its actual or perceived journalistic integrity?
What’s the rest of the truth? We’ll update you when we find out what it is.
TRUTH UPDATE: We followed up with the Conservatives in Action spokesman today (June 19) to see what response he received from Anderson regarding the e-mail or if anyone contacted him to apologize for falsely reporting his group’s support. He infomed us that he has not heard from Trevor Anderson with a response or correction and that no one from the Herald-Journal has contacted him to issue an apology for reprinting the allegations in a separate story.
June 20, 2008 at 12:45 am
“Good job” getting the “exclusive” scoop from the “spokesman” of CIA. Very “truthful.”