Local Paper Fails to Report Obama’s Victory
Krista Flasch, KJRH-TV (Tulsa), November 7, 2008
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The Sapulpa Daily Herald did not report that Barack Obama won the Presidential election in its Wednesday edition.
One paragraph on the front page did report the majority of Creek County voted for McCain.
“This is not only national, but it’s also local. And this is our President; he’s President of Sapulpa also,” said Scott Gordon.
More than a dozen protesters stood in front of the Herald’s downtown office Friday morning to get answers from publisher Darren Sumner.
“I think that’s just blatant racism,” said Toni Delong. “If McCain had won, I’m sure he’d be all over the paper.”
Sumner says he would’ve done the same thing had McCain won.
“Our main focus is to be a local newspaper,” Sumner said.
He agrees the Presidential election is a big news event, but with a circulation of 5,000, readers don’t turn to the Herald for big news.
“I’m sure they read about it (the election) and watched it on T.V.; or got on the Internet and followed it as many people did and knew complete coverage before we were gonna go to press.”
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“I thought it was poor journalism,” said Kenya Hill. “When you open the paper, you expect to see current events as well as historic events. And when you don’t see those, it’s a little disappointing.”
