Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
I thought I’d post a recent question from an old acquaintance of mine, and my response. The question came in the comments section beneath my photo gallery of last weekend’s Asheville Tea Party protest. Here’s the exchange:
From jaybird:
Ash, I’ve always admired your presence in the AVL media scene and your generally fair presentation of perspectives. But, as a member of the media who have journalistic values to uphold, would you please balance your seemingly daily coverage of the Tea Party people with local health care advocates? They are just as vocal, just as active. What’s more, as a media director for a local independent paper, I’d think you’d take greater care not to hint at any political leanings on your side so as not to misrepresent your employer. I rarely take such a strong position publicly, but would you please explain to your readers why the TP gets significantly more coverage and what if any affiliation you may have with the organization. This comment made with all due respect and in fairness.
My response:
Jay, thank you for your note. I respect your thoughts on this topic. But in this case, you’re way off base and frankly, I’m a little taken aback.
“Seemingly daily coverage”? Not sure where you get that. When the Tea Party folks have a protest, I cover it.
And that’s all I’m doing – I’m not commenting on I what I think about their stance, I’m just presenting their side. I’m not stating any political leanings. I’m not even hinting. I’m just posting photos and notifying people about events in the community that catch my interest.
I have no affiliation with the Tea Party crowd, except that they’re members of my community (Asheville).
What “local health care advocates”? What’s the name of the group, or leaders of the group, and what public events are they holding? Are you talking about Leslie Boyd and her Life O’ Mike group? My affiliation with that group is that Leslie Boyd is a friend and former colleague, whom I worked with for about six years. I have great respect for her passion.
I’m also not sure how the health care debate matches up with the Tea Party protesters – the Tea Party group goes after a variety of issues, from mass media coverage, to opposition to Obama’s health care plan, to what they see as out-of-control spending. I guess I don’t see how coverage of one means coverage of the other.
One final note: This is a blog. This is my blog. This is not a newspaper. I don’t have to be “fair,” in any old-fashioned journalistic sense, if I don’t want to. Personally, I strive for that because that’s a value of mine and because of my journalism background. But this blog is just what I think is cool and interesting and fun and thought-provoking. That’s all.
I’ve been around long enough to know that people’s own biases color the way they view what they see and read, and there’s not much I can do about that, except to keep trying harder to make sure my own sense of fair-play comes through. I’ve apparently failed at that, by your accounting. I’m sorry for that and will keep on striving.
I’d just like to say that I greatly enjoy this blog. It keeps me informed of all things Asheville and often find the answers here vs. The Citizen Times. Maybe if people aren’t happy with what is being written they should start their own blog. I find (some) of these comments hilarious.
Like the blog owner says, its his blog and he can do what he wants. When I first heard about the blog years ago, I checked it out, and something seemed wrong, and it took a while to figure it out what it was. Really nice pictures, a pro-asheville slant…and…oh, yeah… some really far right-wing nonsense. Sure, it doesn’t represent my views, or the views of most people who live in this town, but again, it HIS blog. If he wants to creep people out with anti-progressive nonsense, so what? I won’t be reading it, except after mountain xpress reminds me that it is still out there. See you in a couple of years, good luck with convincing your unsuspecting readers that the tea baggers are just "good Americans" and not wacko nutsjobs 🙂
What is the general thinking in the journalism world about reporters/employees having their own independent blogs that are not a part of the newspaper Web site?
Hmm… I understand where jaybird is coming from and I see it too, however, this is your blog and if you want to write about the tea party, zombies, brest feeding momies and how hot you think Russ Bowen is then so be it, you must be doing something right.
Avoid blogsploitation (I just made that up), listen to yor readers but don’t let them dictate your content.
Ash, thank you for a vigorous and thoughtful response. Again, this isn’t a personal pester or some political firecracker thrown out in accusation- I admire and respect your work as a tireless observer of AVL media. You’re an institution, and if I wouldn’t be laid up after surgery next Friday, I’d happily clink a beer to your achievements at the Blogapaloozathon.
Now that I think about it, perhaps your coverage of the TP folk is simply a consequence of their organization and effectiveness of garnering media attention. And you’re right- you’ve given space to Life O’ Mike (something I honestly overlooked in my haste) and you’ve taken the time to elaborate on my rather spit-firey comment.
I’ll also grant you that this is obviously your blog, and you can post whatever you want in here. Over time, however, your site has become more than a personal blog and has become, like it or not, and oft visited and counted upon aggragator of AVL media perspectives. It’s the first site I hit on my Bloglines RSS, versus WLOS and C-T, to get a sense of what’s really going on in our city. Also, knowing that you work in a journalistic capacity for a respected outlet gives me the impression that you probably have to be a more objective blogger than most. Note that I’m not using definitive language here- this is based on perspective, not a quantitative gathering of fact.
I think it’s easy, though, for someone to stroll through your posts and see what *appears* to be a disproportionate amount of space given to PR from the Tea Party crowd, and their acknowledged broad base of complaints. It’s also easy for people like myself to get discouraged at the amount of focus our media gives to the fracas, and not an objective review of the specifics. The TP and the Carolina Stompers (whose antics have also been featured frequently, though I’m saying this without actually going through and documenting how much conservative vs. liberal group coverage is given quantiatively) seem to thrive on attention, and boy howdy do they ever get it, from the major players in corporate media on down. I think it’s fair to say that whatever liberal bias in media that once existed is now toast, and that’s also a good thing, because we count upon our independent media to be objective, politically presenting as a neither/nor or both/and.
So, to wrap this up before sleepiness and beer get the best of me, I was simply trying to raise a flag of query, but certainly not to create scuttlebutt. You do a great service to the community, and while I grumpily typed out my reaction to yet more Tea Party coverage, some of the points you legitimately raised in your response had not been as thoroughly considered as perhaps they should. Your posting of this and your response demonstrates a quality that many in this larger debate pass up- accountability. In your case, you are not really accountable to anyone but yourself, but the willingness to take it to your readers shows that whatever your inclinations, you maintain a sense of responsibility that’s scant in our polarized climate.
If anything, perhaps this sends a signal to those of us working to advance healthcare reform and the larger issue of social justice to get more organized, more out in front, and not to expect the media to come to us.
All the best, and congrats on another year of bloggy success.
Sounds like the teabag nutjobs would like for you to make up stories about them. I still can’t believe they protested WLOS – the stationed owned by Sinclair – that Mark Hyman used to air ultra conservative commentaries nightly – that took off Bill Maher after 9/11 – I could go on…