Reader Response DeLayed, Not Denied
Well, we certainly have been getting it from all sides as of late -- a good thing in my opinion. As we continue to work on finding our way with PE, I've sought to be somewhat eclectic in what we cover. So far, I think the results have been overall worthwhile, but understand the confusion it generates among some. Here's a complaint by one commenter to the open source entry earlier, by mailpro56:
"It was supposed to bring transparency to CBS, yet there is no place to discuss their reporting. Case in point the new Tom DeLay charges … CBS leads with new charges against DeLay … but doesn't discuss that there may be problems with the first set of charges … how about leading with 'First set of charges by Ronnie Earle may be tossed.'First, let's deal with the specific charge. Since there is no specification of which news program led with DeLay, I have to assume it was the "Early Show" since the relatively late-breaking story yesterday garnered an anchor "tell" on the "Evening News" Monday night. This morning's "Early Show" did lead with the DeLay story, here is how it was phrased by Julie Chen:But here we are discussing everything else besides CBS News."
"House Republican leader Tom delay is indicted again, this time, for alleged money laundering in Texas. He calls the new charges an abomination of justice. We'll have details."Rene Syler followed that with this read:
"A Texas grand jury has indicted, for a second time, the former House Majority Leader on more serious charges, including money laundering. It happened hours after DeLay's attorneys asked a judge to throw out last week's conspiracy charge. DeLay calls the new indictments, quote, prosecutorial abuse."Just into the second half-hour of the show, Harry Smith had this to say:
"Powerful Republican Tom DeLay is lashing out at new charges against him. A Texas grand jury re-indicted DeLay on money laundering charges, more serious than last week's indictment. His lawyer accuses the prosecutor of stooping to a new low." DeLay attorney Dick DeGuerin, on tape, was shown saying: "If this doesn't prove that the motivation behind this indictment is political then I don't know what it is." Smith concluded: "DeLay's indictments are linked to a campaign finance probe of Texas Republicans."The heart of the complaint seems to be a failure to include speculation about the fate of the earlier indictment against DeLay – speculation that revolves around the legal wrangling over a waiver that may or may not be in effect and may or may not cause the original indictment to be dismissed. That's an issue for the legal system to decide, not a newscast. Overall, the basic facts of the story, including DeLay's response, were covered in all three "Early Show" mentions. You can argue about whether the story deserved more time or less, but the presentation seemed basically fair to me.
Now to the complaint about the blog itself. First off, it seems clear that there is "a place to discuss" CBS reporting -- mailpro56 certainly found one. Second, in three weeks, PE has done a tremendous amount of CBS-related coverage. Some of it has been informational – taking you into the "Early Show" control room, and some has been confrontational – giving a forum for the "Evening News" executive producer to converse with critics. Most importantly, we've tried to answer complaints and questions raised in our comments section, our e-mail inbox and those raised elsewhere.
We'll keep doing all that, but we'll keep growing and changing as well. We'll continue to point out things about journalism at-large or the blogosphere we find interesting. And, of course, we'll keep listening to you.