Montana Newspaper apologizes for ignoring Ron Paul

[LEK]

But I did comment on their website:

Why do you appologize and then call him an oddball and equate his supporters with the same teminology? Ugh! Just tell the truth and stop worrying about your ratings. Has anyone ever heard of integrity? And calling the national media "professionals" is one of the funniest oxymorons I have ever seen in print.

 

[mysticgeek]

At least they admit their error. Bastards don't need to call him an oddball!

 

[Pauliana]

Last night, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul won more delegates than any other candidate at the Missoula County Republican Caucus. Despite the now obviously high levels of support, the Montana Kaimin did not run a single article on Paul, nor did we include him in our election prediction scorecard.

To Paul supporters in Missoula, and specifically at the University of Montana, the Montana Kaimin regrets this omission.

In excluding Paul, we stifled both his message and supporters. Cutting people out of the political process is anything but democratic, as several readers have correctly pointed out.

For some national media outlets, not including Paul might have made sense. In covering political attitudes across the entire country, honing in on a low-population state that supports a non-mainstream candidate might require more resources than they are willing or able to commit. Covering candidates with more broad support makes sense at that level.

But in the weeks leading up to Montana’s caucus, local media either did not see or outright ignored Paul’s local support. The Montana Kaimin is especially guilty of this lapse because much of Paul’s support comes from college students.

Though the Kaimin may take cues from the national media (they are professionals, after all), we shouldn’t forget that they serve a very different audience than we do. Our primary area of coverage is the University of Montana, specifically its students. When it came to Ron Paul, we failed to cover that readership.

The decision to ignore Paul was consciously and deliberately made due to the fact that Paul had not generated the kind of broad-based national support that John McCain, Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee had. We, like other media outlets, viewed him as an oddball candidate, not in step with his party and without national name recognition. In retrospect, we now see these may be the very qualities that draw people to Paul.

 

[Ex Post Facto]

You have to give them that. They admitted fault. Probably just an independant news organization that was following the big companies charge, calling RP irrelevant. Then their state votes him in 2nd and they realize the movement is stronger than the larger media made him out to be.

 

[ShowMeLiberty]

My comment:

"The decision to ignore Paul was consciously and deliberately made..."

This admission makes what you did worse than undemocratic, it was treasonous. Apology not accepted.

 

[FreedomLiberty]

They will regret it sooner and later. They have committed treason by only pushing for the elite and globalist candidates. They are supposed to be on our side, but they only protect the elite interests. It is sad and a disgrace to journalism. This is just the beginning, we will prove that they are globalist traitors and spread the truth to everyone.

 

[Danny Molina]

They should be charged with treason.

 

[jake]

low taxes, respecting the Constitution, no preemptive war, protection of civil liberties is "odd ball?" wow.

 

[obsolescence]

I'm alarmed at the accusations of treason in this thread.

I'm convinced that the "Ron Paul Revolution" is not a genuine libertarian movement.

 

[Jobarra]

LOL, you guys think they're admitting fault?

The decision to ignore Paul was consciously and deliberately made due to the fact that Paul had not generated the kind of broad-based national support that John McCain, Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee had. We, like other media outlets, viewed him as an oddball candidate, not in step with his party and without national name recognition. In retrospect, we now see these may be the very qualities that draw people to Paul.

So they smeared his candidacy, said he isn't a Republican, and reinforced the belief that national name recognition should be the only reason to vote for someone. Then they reinforced this as truth by saying that people are drawn to him BECAUSE of that. Yeah, these student 'jounalists' probably are going to have some fairly high paying jobs due to their 'skills'.

 

[Danny Molina]

I'm alarmed at the accusations of treason in this thread.

I'm convinced that the "Ron Paul Revolution" is not a genuine libertarian movement.

It's a Republican/Paleoconservative movement.

 

[dvictr]

A bit late, but nice to see some genuine regret for snubbing Ron Paul

http://www.montanakaimin.com/index.php/opinion/opinion_article/ron_paul_supporters_we_were_wrong/



Ron Paul Supporters, We Were Wrong
Sean Breslin | February 7, 2008
Montana Kaimin


Last night, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul won more delegates than any other candidate at the Missoula County Republican Caucus. Despite the now obviously high levels of support, the Montana Kaimin did not run a single article on Paul, nor did we include him in our election prediction scorecard.

To Paul supporters in Missoula, and specifically at the University of Montana, the Montana Kaimin regrets this omission.

In excluding Paul, we stifled both his message and supporters. Cutting people out of the political process is anything but democratic, as several readers have correctly pointed out.

For some national media outlets, not including Paul might have made sense. In covering political attitudes across the entire country, honing in on a low-population state that supports a non-mainstream candidate might require more resources than they are willing or able to commit. Covering candidates with more broad support makes sense at that level.

But in the weeks leading up to Montana’s caucus, local media either did not see or outright ignored Paul’s local support. The Montana Kaimin is especially guilty of this lapse because much of Paul’s support comes from college students.

Though the Kaimin may take cues from the national media (they are professionals, after all), we shouldn’t forget that they serve a very different audience than we do. Our primary area of coverage is the University of Montana, specifically its students. When it came to Ron Paul, we failed to cover that readership.

The decision to ignore Paul was consciously and deliberately made due to the fact that Paul had not generated the kind of broad-based national support that John McCain, Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee had. We, like other media outlets, viewed him as an oddball candidate, not in step with his party and without national name recognition. In retrospect, we now see these may be the very qualities that draw people to Paul.

WOW.. i am about to cry... this article is amazing

 

[merrimac]

This is a small time newspaper that's feeling the wrath of the Ron Paul movement. I go to the UM but I never read the Kaimin. Few UM students read it and fewer read it for politics so it's influence over elections is almost non-existant.

But, nevertheless, I think this is a good indicator of how the MSM would react if Ron finished first in some of these races. Ron Paul won Missoula County and the Kaimin, which is based in Missoula, never covered him so the Kaimin people who write about politics had their credibility shattered.

I haven't been reading the Missoulian so does anyone from Missoula know if they've been censoring Paul and, if so, if they've issued similar statements?

 

[webber53]

Link no longer works or is down temporarily because of the
amount of traffic!

 

[webber53]

It works but it is struggling!

 

[BreakYourChains]

I'm alarmed at the accusations of treason in this thread.

I'm convinced that the "Ron Paul Revolution" is not a genuine libertarian movement.

We are not a libertarian movement. You are a new member, who obviously does not get it. We think the actions of ALL of the media has been treasonous. We use this word because we were all taught that the job of journalists was to report the news, and by not reporting the news, the media people are acting like traitors to the people who trust them, like many on this forum used to trust them. I am trying to make this simple for you. If you do not understand what we are doing, either educate yourself or leave our forum.

 

[Question_Authority]

My comment:

"The decision to ignore Paul was consciously and deliberately made..."

This admission makes what you did worse than undemocratic, it was treasonous. Apology not accepted.

Wow. It sounds like these guys learned their lesson and are coming clean. They were very candid and admitted their bias. What motivation will there be for other media outlets to follow suit if we still demonize this newspaper for being "treasonous"?

C'mon guys, lighten up a little on these guys. I am sure it was not easy for them to do this. And they are the only ones who have so far.

I say we give them kudos and show them we appreciate their confession.

I, for one, felt like it was music to my ears. Even if they were being evil to begin with, they 'fessed up and are changing their tune.

Cut'em some slack people.

 

[HOLLYWOOD]

Yes, They all apologize after the fact... this is the typical action... like receiving illegal campaign donations, etc... then using them to get elected... then once in office, play the I didn't know or it was an oversite, yotta yotta... okay here's the money back.

Outcome: Damage is DONE!

 

[jmdrake]

A bit late, but nice to see some genuine regret for snubbing Ron Paul

http://www.montanakaimin.com/index.php/opinion/opinion_article/ron_paul_supporters_we_were_wrong/



Ron Paul Supporters, We Were Wrong
Sean Breslin | February 7, 2008
Montana Kaimin


Last night, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul won more delegates than any other candidate at the Missoula County Republican Caucus. Despite the now obviously high levels of support, the Montana Kaimin did not run a single article on Paul, nor did we include him in our election prediction scorecard.

To Paul supporters in Missoula, and specifically at the University of Montana, the Montana Kaimin regrets this omission.

In excluding Paul, we stifled both his message and supporters. Cutting people out of the political process is anything but democratic, as several readers have correctly pointed out.

For some national media outlets, not including Paul might have made sense. In covering political attitudes across the entire country, honing in on a low-population state that supports a non-mainstream candidate might require more resources than they are willing or able to commit. Covering candidates with more broad support makes sense at that level.

But in the weeks leading up to Montana’s caucus, local media either did not see or outright ignored Paul’s local support. The Montana Kaimin is especially guilty of this lapse because much of Paul’s support comes from college students.

Though the Kaimin may take cues from the national media (they are professionals, after all), we shouldn’t forget that they serve a very different audience than we do. Our primary area of coverage is the University of Montana, specifically its students. When it came to Ron Paul, we failed to cover that readership.

The decision to ignore Paul was consciously and deliberately made due to the fact that Paul had not generated the kind of broad-based national support that John McCain, Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee had. We, like other media outlets, viewed him as an oddball candidate, not in step with his party and without national name recognition. In retrospect, we now see these may be the very qualities that draw people to Paul.

Great news! I didn't know Ron had one the most delegates in Montana. CNN is still showing him as coming in second and winning 0 delegates.

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/state/#MT

This article needs to be EMAILBOMBED to CNN! THEY have some apologizing (and correcting) to do!

Regards,

John M. Drake

 

[jmdrake]

Here is my email to CNN.
=================================================
Wrong information! You're claiming that Ron Paul one zero delegates in Montana. But according to the Montana Kaiman Ron Paul won more delegates than any other republican candidate!

http://www.montanakaimin.com/index.php/opinion/opinion_article/ron_paul_supporters_we_were_wrong/

Please correct your mistake.
=================================================

Here is the contact page:

http://www.cnn.com/feedback/confirmation/generic.html

Here is the webpage that is incorrect.

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/state/#MT

(You need to put this on the form.)

Get to work folks! Let's do what we do best!

Regards,

John M. Drake