Charter starting to look REAL stupid
Joe Wessels and the Cincinnati Post have picked up on the ongoing saga of the Charter Committee and the Cincinnati Beacon.
For those who don't know, the Dean of Cincinnati was denied membership to the Charter Party (Cincinnati's third party) due to the fact he was a blogger. The Dean of Cincinnati, knowing this rule was bunk, cried fould– Charter of course has had a candidate (Nick Spencer) who was a blogger and another candidate who was a TV newscaster.
One comment in Wessels' column provoked some thought:
Cramerding's comment is silly off-the-cuff rationalization. News organizations set their own limits on their reporters' political lives. I've heard of some newspapers who won't let their political reporters vote. I've heard other journalism veterans say that reporters' personal lives are their own business.
Political life is obviously a part of a person's private life.
What I've never heard is a party (or a committee that acts as a party) set such restrictive rules on membership. Cramerding's comments are sweeping in such a way that show very little thought. Why you ask? Writers for publications like The New Republic or Mother Jones are journalists, right? But they're also obviously partisan. Does the Democratic Party kick them out?
I imagine that's something Cramerding knows, but didn't think of under the gun.
For those who don't know, the Dean of Cincinnati was denied membership to the Charter Party (Cincinnati's third party) due to the fact he was a blogger. The Dean of Cincinnati, knowing this rule was bunk, cried fould– Charter of course has had a candidate (Nick Spencer) who was a blogger and another candidate who was a TV newscaster.
One comment in Wessels' column provoked some thought:
Haap was rejected, according to Jeff Cramerding, Charter's executive director, because he is a journalist. Cramerding said that people can be a partisan or a journalist, but not both. "We thought we were doing him a favor," he said of Haap. "It would be a conflict of interest if he's a journalist."
Cramerding's comment is silly off-the-cuff rationalization. News organizations set their own limits on their reporters' political lives. I've heard of some newspapers who won't let their political reporters vote. I've heard other journalism veterans say that reporters' personal lives are their own business.
Political life is obviously a part of a person's private life.
What I've never heard is a party (or a committee that acts as a party) set such restrictive rules on membership. Cramerding's comments are sweeping in such a way that show very little thought. Why you ask? Writers for publications like The New Republic or Mother Jones are journalists, right? But they're also obviously partisan. Does the Democratic Party kick them out?
I imagine that's something Cramerding knows, but didn't think of under the gun.
Labels: Cincinnati, media
