Editorial bias against the black female progressive candidate in North Carolina’s Democratic senate primary, State Sen. Erica Smith, is on blatant display this morning in the state’s leading newspaper, McClatchy’s Raleigh News & Observer.
Ignoring its headline for the moment, the N&O article itself does a well-balanced job of comparing and contrasting corporate donations to both Smith and her centrist opponent, J. Calvin (Cal) Cunningham III. It reports that:
- In his single term as a state senator, Cunningham accepted a total of $22,000 in corporate donations.
- Three-term state senator Smith accepted $13,000 in corporate donations prior to her US Senate bid.
- Both candidates have vowed to not accept any corporate PAC money in their U.S. Senate campaigns this cycle.
- Despite his vow, Cunningham’s campaign has accepted more than $124,000 in leadership PAC money (through last September...there will be much more in his 4th quarter filing). The article correctly points out this is mostly corporate PAC money, laundered through incumbent senators’ personal PACs. PolitiFact therefore rated Cunningham’s claim that his campaign doesn’t accept corporate money “Mostly False.”
- According to her FEC filings, Smith’s U.S. Senate campaign has not received a single dollar of PAC money, neither from corporate nor leadership PACs.
On balance, a rational reader who read the whole article would probably conclude that Cunningham comes off looking by far the worst here: shoveling corporate cash into his campaign, making “mostly false” claims about it, and previously collecting far more corporate cash as a state senator than did his opponent.
Unfortunately, the editor who wrote the article’s headline appears to see things differently, lambasting Smith while leaving Cunningham unmentioned:
Local newspapers remain an important resource for unbiased straight news in this era of fake media and disappearing local political coverage. But when editors inject their own bias into the story, as the News & Observer (and its parent, McClatchy) has done here, they can also be a powerful tool for generating FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt).
If you’re a supporter of Erica Smith’s US Senate bid...or even just a supporter of fair journalism...please consider emailing McClatchy DC reporter Brian Murphy at bmurphy@mcclatchydc.com to demand an explanation, a public apology to Smith, and a new headline that accurately reflects the reporting it crowns. And while you’re at it, you might also consider making a donation to her campaign in protest against this blatant media hit job. Or if you prefer to give via ActBlue, go here: secure.actblue.com/...