Journalism or Advocacy?
Thurston County Superior Court Judge Wickham recently ruled two interesting things about the finances behind Initiative 912. First, an email address is not sufficient disclosure even when it is the only identifier attached to the money. While this makes internet donations a little more cumbersome, I doubt it will deter the legitimate money. Second, the campaign must report the support of conservative talk-radio station KVI personalities Kirby Wilbur and John Carlson as an “in-kind” political contribution. Carlson was the Republican candidate for governor in 2000 and remains well connected within the party. (He is, for instance, on the exploratory committee for a 2006 Senate bid by Rob McGavin, the recently retired Safeco CEO.)
Dave Zeeck, in a recent op-ed in the Tacoma News-Tribune, thinks the second part went too far . He argues that the journalism practiced at KVI isn’t the same as the News-Tribune, but it is journalism as it was understood in the late-18th century. I don’t want to get involved in the large debate about the changing standards of journalism, but KVI seems never to get beyond the Opinion/Editorial section. I wonder how this will turn out.
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