Christine Murphy – 3/1/06

This page was last updated on March 1, 2006.

Veon article was not news; Christine Murphy; Beaver County Times; March 1, 2006.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“In response to Sunday’s article ‘Paisley says deal offered to keep him out of state House race,’ I would like to ask The Times to stop being a tool for political mudslinging.

“The article was not news; it was unsubstantiated gossip by obvious political opponents.

“I felt as though I was reading a gossip column and not a newspaper. The Times is demonstrating obvious political bias in the campaign. Why?

“The Times has always endorsed state Rep. Mike Veon. Have things really changed over a pay raise? Is The Times so single issued that it will not do any other stories showing Veon’s achievement for Beaver County?”

[RWC] These two paragraphs are incredible! Ms. Murphy objects to alleged “obvious political bias” when the coverage is unflattering to Mr. Veon, then admits the Times has a history of supporting Mr. Veon. I guess it’s only political bias when the alleged bias is against Mr. Veon.

“I believe The Times is doing an enormous disservice to county residents and the 14th Legislative District because it does not bother to author any stories explaining to the voters the negative impact losing the Democratic whip will have for the county.”

[RWC] Again, Ms. Murphy is incredible. She wants the Times to publish a puff piece repeating campaign propaganda, and apparently doesn’t believe that would be bias.

“Where is the story explaining Veon’s office in Beaver Falls does more PennDOT work than any other legislator’s office in the state? Where is the story explaining the political and economic impact it will have on Beaver County to lose Veon even if you were not happy about the pay raise?

“Isn’t it the responsibility of a newspaper to educate and report fact? Explain how much grant money will go to Philadelphia and how many jobs will be lost if the 14th District loses Veon vs. a freshman representative then let the voters make an educated decision.”

[RWC] I get a kick out of this letter.

First, I don’t know if the Times has it in for Mr. Veon or not. I could be wrong, but I suspect if the Times endorses any primary candidates, it will endorse Mr. Veon. I have absolutely no doubt the Times will endorse Mr. Veon against any Republican if Mr. Veon makes it to the general election.

Second, where has Ms. Murphy been? Even if the Times has jumped off the Veon bandwagon, this type of “reporting” is standard operating procedure for the media. I haven’t seen any letters from Ms. Murphy decrying the reporting about the Bush administration.