The Reading, PA, Eagle is in the middle of Berks County, which is split between 3 congressional districts, including 2 that aren't 100% safe for either party (PA-6 Gerlach and PA-17 Holden). So it's especially welcome to see the news editor taking on the Fox "News" viewers in his area who called and said they just KNEW the paper wasn't going to cover the "tea parties."
until last week I had never actually seen people so angry they couldn't see what was right in front of their faces.
So of course the (brainwashed?) Fox audience has proceeded to rate his column 1.74 stars out of 5 online (as of 1:32 PM Eastern).
News editor John Forester's entire column is worth a read, but here's another key segment:
I told them I didn't know of any events planned locally and that we would decide if and when something presented itself. They would huff and hang up, certain of what Fox told them.
A local tea party organized. We publicized it in advance, covered it and ran stories Thursday - Page A1, with photos, and wire stories on A7 and on the Internet.
Friday morning, there was an e-mail chastising us for ignoring the event, just as Fox predicted. (Sigh).
If you'd like to make the online rating of the column fair and balanced, just go to http://www.readingeagle.com/... and scroll to the end of the column. I think you can comment, too.