Every week since the Presidential election, I have looked for some good objective coverage of the presidential election in the Cadiz Record. It is, after all, the only newspaper available in or town and county.
So far, I have found two items mentioning our newest President–elect. These were both opinion pieces: the first by C. Ernest Williams and, the second, an op-ed piece by Paul Ibrahim. Neither of these pieces could be called good or fair coverage of the election.
Mr. Williams is a Presbyterian minister who once lived in Paris, TN (he now resides somewhere in Kansas and writes his own opinions in his column, “Outside the Church Doors”. Mr. Ibrahim is a syndicated writer with the “North Star Writers Group”, an institution without walls which provides opinion pieces for profit.
Why do the opinions of these two obviously biased individuals comprise the only mention of President-elect Obama in our community?
We all need to take a step back and look at the strengths and weaknesses of our city and county. We certainly have strengths but we also have great weaknesses. We are diverse, which should make us strong. We are made up of low, high, middle income people; European, African, Latina, Asian, Middle Eastern Americans; and, long-time residents and more short-term people.
However, we are divided.
The coverage of our Presidential Election reflects this by focusing only on negative opinions of our soon-to-be President. The management and staff of the Record have an obligation to provide Cadiz and Trigg County with fair and unbiased news and information. The Record, if it truly wants to make a difference, should grasp the amazing opportunity to help our divided community heal through good journalism. It would be the right and courageous thing to do.
Sincerely,
Fayrene Leininger
