Last year, Frank Sutherland, editor of Nashville's Tennessean, paid personal tribute to Al Gore in a film produced by Gore's presidential campaign. Newsmen aren't supposed to behave that way, and Sutherland later apologized. "If I breached the credibility of my readers by appearing on that video I regret that," he allowed. "And I will work hard to repair that."
He should redouble his efforts.
Last week, an angry family in Carthage, Tennessee, went public about the squalid condition of the house they rent on Gore's inherited family property (see Matt Labash's cover story in this issue). The controversy had a local angle. And it was embarrassing to the vice president, so it represented a juicy opportunity for the Tennessean to prove it wasn't soft on Gore. You'd think Frank Sutherland would have rushed half his staff to Carthage.
But the Tennessean virtually ignored the story, running just a single, brief wire report about the misfortune of Gore's tenants. What kind of news judgment was that?
A Tennessean spokeswoman told Fox News Channel last week that the paper's own reporters were busy covering the state legislature and could not be spared for a trip to Gore's farm. She claimed the Tennessean intended to adopt subsequent coverage of the story by Larry Bivins of Gannett News Service.
Which was news to Bivins, who follows the presidential campaign for Gannett -- and works in Washington. "That's a Tennessee story," Bivins told THE SCRAPBOOK. "I would think someone there would be covering it."
Nope. It's all the news that's fit to print at the Tennessean -- except the stuff that's bad for good ol' Al.