Time to empty the mailbag . . .
If the dedication of Ron Paul supporters wasn't evident to me once I did this story last week, the e-mails I received afterward hammered the point home.
Usually when TV stations say they've received "tons of e-mails," they mean, like three.
But as of this writing, I've received 18 e-mails from Paul supporters "thanking me" for the coverage. That's unprecedented for any story I've ever done . . . ever.
It wasn't anything I did that got that response. These Paul people just seem to be extremely committed to their candidate, extremely Internet savvy and excited about even a small slice of coverage from the mainstream media.
"Don't you want to support a presidential candidate who would stand up on Capitol Hill and say the federal government wastes too much money, taxes are too high, war should be a last resort, and the freedoms Americans have died for through the centuries ought to be protected? If you vote for Ron Paul in the 2008 Republican presidential primaries, you can," wrote Lisa and Chuck Shephered.
"Thanks for the piece. KY3's credibility factor took a huge positive jump in this viewer's opinion. Please continue to include Ron Paul in all your future coverage," wrote Ira Madsen.
"So many dismiss Ron Paul as a fringe candidate but he has tremendous grassroots support and it is growing. He is a true Statesman and a defender of the Constitution," wrote Teri Jenkins of Aurora.
"I'm one of the silent but active supporters of Dr. Paul. The mainstream media does not acknowledge that a grass-roots campaign is developing for this candidate that embraces most of the things that Americans care about," wrote Mary Connors.
And the e-mails go on and on . . .
There's a passion out there with Paul you can't dismiss. Watch this guy to rock the boat a bit in New Hampshire, where independents can have a large impact on the turnout.
Now, to a few calls and comments I've received on portions of my blog postings that appear in the Springfield News-Leader. Now this truly blew me away. A few people have called to complain about "my writings to the News-Leader."
The News-Leader has a fairly new section where they excerpt portions from local blogs and post them in a "State Roundup." Here and there, they take postings from here, which I have no problem with.
But one man called me and left me a message criticizing me for writing "letters to the editor."
"I'm not in favor of many of the things you state and think perhaps you shouldn't be writing in the newspaper while you're a contributor at KY3. It doesn't seem quite right. I'm not in favor in what you're saying in the contributions, and you should think about the liberal things you are saying," the man said.
The man was referring to this recent blog post on Hillary Clinton's organization in Missouri. The man took issue that I included a line for people interested in volunteering. As if, I was urging people to volunteer for Hillary. Obviously, that wasn't the case. I was merely stating Clinton was looking for volunteers. As I would for any candidate who I received an e-mail from.
But it sort of scared me that this man, who dubbed himself a "long-time News-Leader subscriber" and "watcher of KY3 News" 1) thought this was a letter to the editor and 2) thought my post was "liberal" in promoting Clinton.
It's true that in news, perception is reality, and we must battle even misinformed perceptions daily.
But it's also true that we can only serve a public that is informed -- and will allow itself to shed its inherent bias before automatically blaming the media for what they believe is theirs.
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