Olympian publisher fights back

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Olympian publisher fights back

Submitted by Rick on Tue, 03/21/2006 - 4:33pm.

From Editor & Publisher:

NEW YORK John Winn Miller, publisher of The Olympian, the Gannett daily in Olympia, Wash., says he's mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore -- especially from popular syndicated columnist Cal Thomas.

"I'm tired of hearing radical columnists like you besmirch the good men and women who struggle daily to put out the very best newspaper they can," Miller writes in his paper today. Ironically, The Olympian itself carried Thomas' offending column on Sunday.

"Once again you've trotted out that stale cliche that newspapers like mine are undermined by what you claim is a liberal bias," Miller charges. "I know I can't change your mind. But I'll be doggone if I'm going to let your slander of my colleagues go unchallenged anymore."

Thomas had written that journalists hold different values than a majority of Americans, and the press needs an affirmative action program to "aggressively seek out more conservative reporters and editors who will report more stories that reflect something other than a consistently liberal point of view." This is something he has expressed in E&P several times in recent years.

On an side note: do you suppose E&P has noticed that the Olympian is now a McClatchy property?

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Imagine that, the Olympian

Submitted by white feather on Tue, 03/21/2006 - 5:59pm.

Imagine that, the Olympian got it wrong again.

Cal was right, but I will take it even further. How about journalists, report the news with no slant, either right or left unless they are doing an editorial. That's the way it was in the distant past.

Um...right. May I suggest

Submitted by Rick on Tue, 03/21/2006 - 6:16pm.

Um...right. May I suggest that you stop watching so much Fox News?

As a former journalist, I

Submitted by emmettoconnell on Tue, 03/21/2006 - 8:13pm.

As a former journalist, I really resent the "liberal media" tag that many (seemingly lazy) conservatives put on reporters and editors. Don't get me wrong, liberal are guilty of it too, but conservatives seem to especially love the term.

If journalists are guilty of any bias, it likely has to do with having to bend towards the profit gravity center (newspapers and broadcast outlets are more often than not businesses) of making new interesting or simply not really getting what they're reporting on.

Good for John.

I don't care if its fox new,

Submitted by white feather on Thu, 03/23/2006 - 5:35pm.

I don't care if its fox new, nbc or npr, you should get done listening to the reporter and have no idea where they or the news station stand on the issue. That doesn't happen anymore.

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