Friday, October 07, 2005

Roanoke Times Still Hiding Kaine's Attempt To Sidestep Rules

Yesterday I posted this regarding the blatantly biased editorial on Kaine's refusal to sign a non-use agreement as required by the previuosly agreed to rules of the debate scheduled for this Sunday evening.
As I stated in the first sentence of yesterdays post, I could find no reference to the story on line, and could not recall having read it in the print edition.
It was obvious to me that the Roanoke Times chose to handle this story exclusively on the editorial page, where it could be "spun" to suit Ms. Zomparelli and Mr. Denton's political agenda.
Today, after Mr. Kaine finally realized he could not change the rules in the middle of the game and signed the agreement "under protest", The Roanoke Times finally mentions the story. Just barely. In two short paragraphs at the end of a Michael Sluss story regarding Russ Potts' lawsuit against Dr. Sabato and his Center for Politics. But true to form, even those two short paragraphs tell the story from an anti-Kilgore slant.
From todays Times Virginia section page 3;

The Kaine and Kilgore camps have spent much of the week bickering over ground rules for the debate. Specifically, the two sides were quarreling over terms of an agreement that would prevent debate footage from being used in TV ads.

Kilgore's campaign insisted on the agreement, arguing that it is a customary condition of televised debates in the state. Kaine's campaign signed off on the deal Thursday, but not before accusing Kilgore's camp of trying to sabotage the only televised debate of the campaign.

Even when they slant the story to favor their bias, they hide it off the main pages of the paper. And then try to bury it at the end of an article they know very few people will ever get to the last paragraph of.

Also, the editorial included a swipe at the NBC affiliate who is co-sponsoring the debate. The Times deliberately phrased their editorial so as to make it appear that the stations copyright would prevent a wide audience. here, read it for yourself.
From the Roanoke Times Editorial Page, 10/06/05;

"WWBT says it is just protecting its copyright interests -- but copyright allows "fair use," not "no use." And short excerpts used in campaign commercials would almost certainly be allowed under current law.

Besides, a public debate between gubernatorial candidates going out over airwaves owned by the public should not be the exclusive property of one television station. Indeed, broadcast stations and civic organizations across the state should have been insisting for months on a series of live, unscripted and unrestricted debates.

The public interest here is wide dissemination of such debates. Those who host the encounters should understand and support that."
If you notice the blue box in the center of the article, you will see that it shows the debate to be aired in the Roanoke Valley not only on WSLS, Roanoke's NBC affiliate, but also on C-Span. I would imagine that WVTF Public Radio will air it as well. Anyone who wishes to can follow the debate, live. Apparently Wendy and Tommy don't read their own publication. And there are some stories they don't want their readers to find.

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