NY Times: Good News For Edwards Not Fit To Print
October 16, 2007 -- 2:57 PM EST // //
Bad news for Edwards? Fit to print. Good news for Edwards? Not so much.
In recent months The New York Times has repeatedly reported that major unions were going to take a pass on the Presidential race, repeatedly suggesting that this was a blow to John Edwards, who's courted labor most aggressively.
On July 31, for instance, the paper reported that unions were contemplating taking a pass on the primary, adding that this "would be particularly frustrating" to Edwards. On Sept. 26, the paper reported that the national Service Employees International Union would also not be making an endorsement, even though "Edwards has lobbied the union hard." On October 9, the paper did another story on SEIU's non-endorsement, adding that "Edwards had lobbied hardest for its endorsement." The paper did a fourth story on labor non-endorsements, too.
Well, yesterday ten of the SEIU's state councils -- a total of almost a million working men and women -- threw their support to Edwards. You'd think The Times -- after talking up all that bad news for Edwards -- would do a story on this, right?
Nope.
Today's Times didn't print a mention of this at all -- unlike The Washington Post, The Associated Press, Reuters, CNN and CNBC, all of whom did their own stories on it.
Incidentally, this probably isn't because the paper's reporters didn't view this as newsworthy. After all, the paper's Caucus blog carried a long item on it by labor reporter Steven Greenhouse, and judging by his item, he clearly viewed it as an important score on Edwards' part. But the paper's editors, apparently, didn't deem this good news for Edwards fit to print.
There may be a perfectly valid explanation for why the paper didn't view this as newsworthy. I just can't imagine, given its previous reporting on this, what it might be.
Update: I should have been clearer about the larger context here. It's no secret that Edwards supporters are unhappy with the Times' coverage and its failure to cover Edwards' policy speeches. This will be viewed as just more of the same.
To reach the homepage of this blog, click here. Comments section temporarily disabled.