Glynn Wilson’s letter to the editor
Posted by BrianFrom today’s Huntsville Times…
Lack of balance
As a long-time journalist and former journalism professor who moved back to my home town of Birmingham three years ago, I continue to be appalled at the lack of balance and fairness in your coverage of politics in this state.
You have consistently distorted issues on the news pages and the editorial pages in favor of Republicans and against Democrats.
Your reporting on the two-year college so-called “scandal” appears to be part of an organized plot on the part of the Republican Party to take over the Legislature by 2010.
Your coverage, both on the news and editorial pages, has shown absolutely no objectivity of any kind, and certainly not balance and fairness, towards former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman. You have distorted the law and the politics in the case. You should be ashamed to call yourselves journalists.
If you have any real desire to serve your readers and live up to your First Amendment responsibilities as a free press, you should take a stand and ask that Congress live up to its constitutional oath and hold Karl Rove in contempt for failing to honor a congressional subpoena and testify under oath.
If he had nothing to do with manipulating justice in this state and country, as you seem to believe, then let’s have him put his right hand on a Bible and say that for the record. Anything short of that does a massive disservice to the people of this democratic republic. And for your role in that, you should all be ashamed.
Glynn R. Wilson,
Birmingham, 35215
Glynn Wilson is editor and publisher of the online Locust Fork News-Journal.
Actually, Glynn, we’re a constitutional republic. The Congo is, or at least claims to be, a democratic republic. There is a difference.
From the Wikipedia entry for Republic:
[T]he phrase “People’s Democratic Republic” was often synonymous with Marxist dictatorships during the Cold War.
Constitutional republic - A constitutional republic is a state where the head of state and other officials are elected as representatives of the people and must govern according to existing constitutional law that limits the government’s power over citizens. In a constitutional republic, executive, legislative, and judicial powers are separated into distinct branches so that no individual or group has absolute power and the power of the majority of the population is checked by only allowing them to elect representatives. The fact that a constitution exists that limits the government’s power, makes the state constitutional. That the head(s) of state and other officials are chosen by election, rather than inheriting their positions, and that their decisions are subject to judicial review makes a state republican.
Democratic Republic - Tends to be used by countries who have a particular desire to emphasize their claim to be democratic; these are typically Communist states and/or ex-colonies. Examples include the German Democratic Republic (no longer in existence) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Glynn isn’t quite clear on what form of government we have. Or maybe he’s just juxtaposing his own desires.
September 20th, 2008 at 7:40 am
And who can forget North Korea, also amusingly known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). A shining star of democracy!
September 20th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Based on what little I’ve been able to stomach reading written by Mr. Wilson is pure socialist drivel. The guy, despite his delusions of grandeur, is a pure leftist hack. And as you pointed out, wouldn’t know the difference between a Republic and a Democracy if it stole what was produced by him and conveniently redistributed it to those with “a greater need.”
September 20th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Actually, for those of us who have been payin g reality-based attention to the recent politics in Alabama, Wilson is pretty much spot-on concerning the newspaper’s bias and manipulation and the Rove-inspired corruption in the state.
The nit-picking over whether we he should have used ‘constitutional republic’ or a ‘democratic republic’ or a ‘democratic constitutional republic’ is silly and beside the point of the letter.
September 20th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
September 21st, 2008 at 6:06 am
By “constitutional oath” I assume Mr. Wilson means the oath of office that all members of congress take when then are sworn into office. That oath says: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”
If members of congress and our president had lived up to their oaths of office we wouldn’t be in the economic mess we’re in today, but I fail to see what the oath has to do with congress holding Karl Rove in contempt.
September 21st, 2008 at 6:09 am
TYPO CORRECTION: “when then are sworn” should read “when they are sworn”.