Ouch, I was so disapointed. I stayed up past midnight working on two different Obama stories and I tried to make them both as objective as I possibly could, but my publisher isn't able to use them. This is what he said,
"...with the numerous requests from Presidential candidates and to try to be
fair to each because we have already received some interview requests. We
decided that when a candidate comes to our coverage area, such as Denison, if
someone is available we will cover the event and run a photo or two along with a
cutline about the event, but we won't get into protracted stories or interviews.
We want to be fair in our coverage with all candidates, no matter how much of a
long-shot they may be. This sets some guidelines for us with our limited
personnel resources and page space while allowing us to focus on more of what we do, which is to cover the people and events in our communities. If a candidate
wants to communicate further with our readers, they always have the opportunity to purchase advertising space. With this policy in mind, we will run
approximately the first two paragraphs of the Obama story you wrote along with
one or two of the photos..."
As bummed out as I was, I understand, and even appreciate where they're coming from with the policy. I mean, in small towns like ours you just can't make everybody happy. If you run something in-depth at all on one candidate from one party, you'r bound to have people complain that you're not giving enough time and ink to some other candidate. Be that as it may, I believe that information is valuable because a journalist's job is to provide the readers with information to help them make informed decisions. With that in mind, as an "independent journalist" on the "new frontier," I feel that it is my priviledge and perogotive to self-publish both stories in their entirety here on my own personal blog.
The next two posts will be said stories.
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